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AUTHOR: 


GUMMERE,  FRANCIS 


TITLE: 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


PLACE: 


LONDON 


DA  TE : 


1892 


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PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Restrictions  on  Use: 


C- 


numnere,    Francis  Barton,    1855-1919. 

Germanic  origins.     A  study  j.n  prjnitive  cnl- 
tiiro.     London,    Nutt,   1892. 

viii,  490  p. 

Reissued  in  1950  with  title:  Foun^ters  of  Enr 
l^nd. 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


From  the  library  of 

Samuel  M.  Lindsay 


\ 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


A   STUDY    IN    PRIMITIVE    CULTURE 


BY 


FRANCIS  B.  GUMMEEE,  Ph.D. 

Professor  op  English  in  Haverpord  College 


LOXDON 
DAVID  NUTT,  270,  STEAND 

1892 


I 


FROM  THE  UBRARY  OF 
SAMUEL  M.  LINDSAY 

Copyright,  1892,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 
for  the  United  States  of  America. 


Printed  by  Berwick  &  Smith, 
Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


^ 


PEEFACE 

One  needs  no  longer  to  fetch  an  omcle, -^  antiquam 
exquirite  matrem,  for  example,  — in  order  to  compel 
attention  when  one  writes  about  the  sources  of  lan- 
guage, literature,  and  institutions  of  the  great  Eng- 
lish-speaking  race.      This  volume  aims  to  give   an 
account  of  the  founders  of  that  race  while  they  still 
held  their  old  home,  their  old  faith,  their  old  cus- 
toms ;  and  the  sole  purpose  of  these  "  forewords  "  is 
to   explain  what  materials  and  what  method   have 
been  employed.     The  author  has  tried  to  free  his 
text  from  cumbrous  allusions,  and  to  put  into  the 
notes  material  for  wider  study.     These  notes,  as  well 
as  a  portion  of   the  introductory  chapter,   tell    the 
reader   what   sources   have   been   consulted    in    the 
making  of  the  book  itself.     Quotations   at  second 
hand    occur   only  where  the  authority  from  which 
they  are  taken  is  itself  of   the  first   class,  such  as 
Grimm   on   mythology,  Miillenhoff  on   archseology, 
or  Waitz  on  institutions.     All  quotations  from  the 
range  of  Early  Germanic  literature  are  at  first  hand, 
and    the    same    statement    holds   good   of    classical 

•  •  • 

111 


IV 


PREFACE 


sources  like  Tacitus  or  Caesar.     Ti-anslations  from 

Anglo-Saxon  and  German   poetry  have    been  made 

by  the   author;    those  from   the   Edda   are   in  the 

majority  of  cases  by  Vigfusson  and  Powell,  but  are 

always  duly  credited. 

^  F.  B.  G. 


Haverford  College,  21  December,  1891. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION ^ 

Germanic  and  Celtic  in  the  English  race  —  Appearance  of  the 
Germanic  element  in  European  history  —  Clash  of  Roman  and 
German  —  Sources  of  information  about  the  early  Germans  — 
Chronological  and  geographical  d&ta.  —  Germania  of  Tacitus 
chief  authority  —  The  Ingaevonic  tribes. 

CHAPTER  II 

LAND  AND  PEOPLE 30 

The  German  in  Germany  — His  former  home  —  Inherited  and 
actual  culture  —  Country  and  climate  —  Pastures,  flocks,  and 
herds — Nomad  or  farmer  ?  —  Boundaries. 

CHAPTER  III 

MEN  AND  WOMEN 67 

Stature  and  features  — A  fair-haired  race  — Sense  of  personal 
beauty  — Food  and  drink— Habits  of  daily  life  —  Clothing — 
Adornments. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  HOME 90 

Hatred  of  cities  —  Underground  dwellings  —  Houses  wooden  and 
frail  — Construction,  and  later  improvements  —  The  burg,  and 
the  hall  — Descriptions  in  Beowulf— BsLnqnet,  songs,  flyting, 
etc.  — Amusements  and  vices  —  Hunting  —  The  primitive  house 
compared  with  modern  dwellings. 

V 


▼1 


CONTENTS 


CONTENTS 


Vll 


CHAPTER  V 

HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 129 

The  husband  a  warrior,  the  wife  housekeeper  and  farmer  — 
Rights  of  women  —  Germanic  chastity  —  Woman  as  sibyl  —  Her 
courage  —  Wooing  and  wedding— How  far  love  was  a  factor- 
Dower  or  price— Ceremony  of  marriage  —  Punishment  for  infi- 
delity. 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  FAMILY 162 

Hospitality  and  gifts  —  Responsibilities  of  the  head  of  a  family 
—  Importance  of  kinship  —  Conflicting  duties  —  Feud  —  Wer- 
gild, and  other  substitutes  for  feud  —  Paternal  power  — Expos- 
ure—Education  of  children  — Names  — Old  age. 


CHAPTER  Vn 
TRADE  AND  COMMERCE 


206 


Household  industries  —  The  smith  —  Commerce  —  Exports 
Amber  — Myths  relating  to  commerce  and  seaf earing— Ships 
Love  of  the  sea  —  Money  and  bargains. 


CHAPTER  Vni 


THE  WARRIOR 


Military  service  of  two  kinds  — War  the  chief  business  of  Ger- 
manic life  —  Courage  —  Types  of  the  warrior  —  Cowardice — 
Germanic  weapons -Armor -Cavalry -Importance  of  the  in- 
fantry -  Tactics  of  the  army  -  The  onset  -  Second  kind  of 
mihtary  service -The  Comitatus -Its  meaning  in  Germanic 
life  and  history- Age  at  which  the  German  took  up  arms 


226 


CHAPTER  IX 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


270 


The  kmg  originally  a  creation  of  the  race -His  authority  and 
duties  -  Inheritance  and  election  -  Ideals  -The  queen  -  Nobles 
by  birth  and  by  office -The  Germanic  freeman -The  freedman 
and  the  slave  —  The  alien. 


CHAPTER   X 
GOVERNMENT  AND   LAW 


289 


Gifts,  not  taxes  —  Organization  of  government  —  Elements  of 
monarchy  and  of  democracy  —  Popular  councils  and  assem- 
Ijlies  — The  town-meeting  —  Legal  system  — The  function  of 
priests  in  civil  administration  —  Punishments  for  crime  —  Forms 
of  law  —  Ordeal  and  trial  by  battle. 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE  FUNERAL ^^ 

The  weapon-death  — Burning  and  burial  — The  former  a  primi- 
tive Germanic  habit  — The  mound  or  barrow  — Its  position  — 
What  was  burnt  or  buried  with  the  dead  —  Sacrifice  of  the  liv- 
ing—Ship burials  — The  land  of  souls  —  Germanic  horror  of  the 
grave— The  elegiac  mood  in  our  poetry  — Games  and  feasts  at 
the  funeral  —  Ceremonies  at  the  burial  of  Attila  and  of  Beowulf. 

CHAPTER    XII 

THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE   DEAD 337 

Germanic  religion  in  general  —  Cult  and  creed  —  Heathen  scepti- 
cism—Agreement of  old  and  new  faiths  — Cult  of  ancestors, 
and  superstitions  about  the  dead  —  Survivals  —  All  Souls  — 
Swiss  customs  —  Heathen  rites  made  Christian  —  The  patron- 
saint  and  the  fylgja. 


CHAPTER   Xni 
THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


366 


Dualism  in  worship  —  Spirits  of  the  natural  world  —  House- 
spirits  —  Spirits  of  the  air  — The  Mighty  Women  —  Charms — 
The  Wild  Hunt  — Spirits  of  the  earth  — Wood-spirits  — Tree- 
worship  —  Water-spirits  and  well-worship  —  The  Swan-maidens 
—  Giants  — Worship  of  the  elements  —  Water,  air,  and  fire  — 
Mother  Earth  —  Sun,  moon,  and  stars  —  Day,  night,  and  the 
seasons. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 416 

Germanic  gods  and  goddesses  —  Evidence  of  their  cult  —  The 
days  of  the  week  — Woden  — Thimor  — Tins- Nerthus,  and 
the  Ingaevonic  group  —  Other  deities. 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XV 

FORM  AND  CEREMONY 440 

Places  of  worship  —  Temples  —  Images  and  columns  —  Priest 
and  priestess  —  Prayer,  offering  and  sacrifice  —  Survivals  — 
Divination  and  auguries  —  Runes. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  HIGHER   MOOD 472 

Public  and  private  standard  of  morals  —  Ideals  of  the  race  — 
Esthetics  —  Germanic  faith  —  Notions  about  a  future  life  —  Con- 
clusion. 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


A  STUDY   IN   PRIMITIVE   CULTURE 


I 


GERMANIC    ORIGINS 


CHAPTER  I 


"  Under  the  drums  and  tramplings  of  three 
conquests.  .  .  ." 

Sir  Thomas  Browni. 


INTRODUCTION 

Germanic  and  Celtic  in  the  English  race  —  Appearance  of  the 
Germanic  element  in  European  history  —  Clash  of  Roman  and 
German  —  Sources  of  information  about  the  early  Germans  — 
Chronological  and  geographical  data  —  Germania  of  Tacitus  chief 
authority  —  The  Ingaevonic  tribes. 

Who  were  the  founders  of  our  race?  Working 
backwards,  up  the  stream  of  national  descent,  we 
come  to  the  great  influx  of  Norman  people,  Norman 
words,  Norman  ways ;  and  we  stop  to  reckon  with 
this  fact  in  the  development  of  English  life.  A  very- 
brief  study,  a  few  minutes  of  consideration,  assure  us 
that  here  are  no  founders  of  England,  but  only  gen- 
erous contributors ;  immigrants  we  may  call  them,  who 
brought  along  valuable  property,  and  furnished  us 
with  some  new  and  desirable  elements  of  civilization. 
Again,  and  for  still  stronger  reasons,  we  reach  the 
same  conclusion  with  regard  to  that  earlier  conquest 
of  England  by  the  Northmen.  The  Danes  gave  us  a 
few  words,  —  the  common  vocable  "  are,"  for  example, 
—  a  few  customs,  a  few  laws ;  and  that  is  the  whole 

1 


2  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

story.    It  lies,  therefore,  between  the  Celts,  the  peo- 
ple whom  Caesar  found  in  his  Britain,  and  the  Ger- 
manic invaders  and  conquerors  who  seized  upon  the 
island  when  the  Roman  legions  were  withdrawn.    Of 
these  two  claimants,  the  latter  race  is  recognized  by 
history  and  criticism  as  furnishing  the  real  foundation 
of  our  national  life.    True,  there  is  more  or  less  oppo- 
sition in  the  matter  of  actual  descent.     We  are  Ger- 
manic in  our  institutions,  concedes  Professor  Huxley ; 
but  the  race  itself  is  at  least  half  Celtic  in  its  blood. 
"  Not  one  half,"  Mr.  Grant  Allen  is  inclined  to  think, 
"of  the  population  of  the  British  Isles  is  really  of 
Teutonic  descent;"    and  he  carries  the  battle  into 
still  remoter  territoiy  when  he  concedes  our  language 
to  Germanic  origins,  but  claims  our  literature,  espe- 
cially the  imagination  displayed  in  it,  for  Celtic  influ- 
ences.    Furthermore,  the  greatest  of  our  critics  in 
literary  matters,  the  late  Matthew  Arnold,  has  broken 
a  lance  for  this  Celtic  influence  in  our  national  devel- 
opment, and  is  half  inclined  to  answer  the  question, 
"  What  is  England  ? "   by  saying,  "  A  vast  obscure 
Cymric  basis  with  a  vast  visible  Germanic   super- 
structure." ^    In  particular,  Arnold  attributes  so  high 
a  quality  of  our  literature  as  its  humor  —  and  what 
quality  is  so  peculiarly  its  own,  so  triumphantly  its 
own  ?  —  to  the  dash  of    Celtic   impulse  and  fancy, 
clashing  with  our  Germanism.2     And  he  goes  on  to 
say,  that  our  poetry  probably  got  its  turn  for  style, 
probably  its  turn  for  melancholy,  and  certainly  its 
"  natural  magic,"  from  the  Celtism  in  our  character. 
Such  statements  as  these  from  a  man  who  on  his  own 

I  ?uV^^  ^^""^'-^  ""^  ^'''*'  ^^^^^^^^^^  (MacmiUan  &  Co.,  1883).  p.  64. 
''Ibid.  p.  101.  '^ 


INTRODUCTION 


ground  had  no  rivals  deserve  most  careful  considera- 
tion. Arnold,  however,  is  off  his  own  ground  when 
he  asserts  that  rhyme,  which  he  calls  the  main  source 
of  the  romantic  element  in  our  poetry,  "  comes  .  .  . 
from  the  Celts."  Kluge  has  shown,  in  an  article  deal- 
ing with  strictly  scientific  evidence,  that  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  poetry,  which  already  possessed  that  form  of 
rhyme  loosely  called  alliteration,  was  in  its  own 
fashion  developing  that  form  which  we  commonly 
understand  when  we  use  the  general  term.^  Now 
this  mistake  of  Arnold's,  trifling  as  it  may  be,  shows 
us  the  need  of  very  severe  tests  when  we  attempt  to 
pass  judgment  on  questions  so  intricate  and  rooted 
in  such  difficult  and  distant  soil.  It  is  a  little  too  loud 
protesting  when  Mr.  Grant  Allen,  though  he  may 
well  be  quite  in  the  right,  lays  down  the  positive  law 
that  "  our  modern  poetry  "  —  and  a  fortiori^  our  prose,^ 
—  "  is  wholly  Romance  in  descent,  form,  and  spirit." 
We  are  tempted  to  ask  Mr.  Allen  for  definitions,  for 
sources,  for  proof.  It  is  just  the  same  hesitation  that 
besets  us  when  he  says  that  while  our  social  and 
political  organization  must  be  regarded  as  Germanic, 
this  Germanic  element  did  nothing  for  our  culture, 
which  is  "wholly  Roman."  ^ 

1  Ibid.  p.  120 ;  Klage  in  Paul-Braune,  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  d. 
deutschen  Sprache  u.  Literature  Vol.  IX. 

2  Anglo-Saxon  prose  is  vigorous,  and  sometimes,  as  in  uElfric,  not 
without  a  certain  compactness  and  form.  But  every  one  knows  that 
the  best  qualities  in  the  older  period  of  English  prose  —  as  in  Hooker 
or  Milton  —  were  Latinistic,  and  that  the  best  qualities  in  the  later 
period  are  distinctly  indebted  to  the  French. 

8  See  Grant  Allen,  Anglo-Saxon  Britain,  pp.  106,  224,  227.  For  the 
other  side,  see  Professor  Freeman,  —  who  opposes  "the  witness  of 
speech"  to  "the  witness  of  skulls,"  and  insists  on  the  continuity  of 
our  race  from  Schleswig  to  New  England, —in  his  Fowr  Oxford  Lec- 
tures, 1887  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  1888),  especially  pp.  71,  78,  of  the  lecture 
on  Teutonic  Conquest  in  Gaul  and  Britain. 


\ 


s"<^ 


4  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

Granting  all  that  these  critics  claim,  we  find  in  their 
concessions  of  speech,  custom  and  law,  broad  enough 
basis  for  our  assumption  that  the  Germanic  race  is 
the  source  of  English  life,  and  that  the  Germanic 
invaders  of  Britain  may  fairly  be  styled  founders  of 
England.  Moreover,  in  regard  to  the  disputed  terri- 
tory, while  we  feel  sure  that  Arnold  has  considerable 
justice  in  his  claims  for  Celtic  liveliness  as  a  factor 
in  the  imaginative  qualities  of  our  literature,  we  do 
not  wish  to  see  the  Germanic  element  fairly  elbowed 
out  of  our  poetry.  We  are  willing  to  concede  that 
Prospero  found  his  Ariel  on  the  island;  but  what 
shall  we  say  of  Prospero  himself? 

Vom  Vater  hab'  ich  die  Statur, 

Des  Lebens  ernstes  Fiihren, 
Von  Miitterchen  die  Frohnatur 

Und  Lust  zu  fabuliren,  — 

sang  Goethe  of  his  own  "  origins  " ;  and  father  Ger- 
manic and  mother  Celtic  may  have  contributed  the 
same  elements  in  the  case  of  English  poetry.  But 
Mr.  Grant  Allen  says  that  our  Germanic  origin  gave 
our  literature  "patience  and  thoroughness,"  and  noth- 
ing more.^ 

It  is  little  better  than  beating  the  air  to  argue  in 
general  terms  against  these  random  conclusions.  It 
is  a  question  of  facts;  and  we  must  first  of  all  inquire 
how  we  can  best  reach  the  facts.  We  could  take  that 
complex  mass  which  we  call  English  Literature,  and 
by  a  grand  Quellenjagd,  such  as  the  modern  German 
loves,  spread  origins  and  sources  over  every  land  and 
time.     It  is  ea^y  with  a  certain  facility  in  tailor-lore 

1  Ibid.  p.  229. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

to  show  how  oddly  this  literature  is  "  suited,"  to  trace 
the  doublet  to  Italy  and  the  round-hose  to  France,  — 
pretty  sport  and  often  profitable, — but  how  is  it  with 
the  flesh  and  blood  of  literature  ?  Is  the  heart  of  our 
literature  Germanic  or  Celtic  ?  Or  is  it  neither  ?  Is 
it  rather  the  result  of  classical  or  even  Romance  tra- 
ditions ?  How  can  we  so  much  as  begin  to  answer 
these  questions  until  we  know  what  "Germanic" 
means?  If  we  wish  to  know  what  elements  in  our 
literature  or  our  life  we  ought  to  refer  to  the  Ger- 
manic invadei^  of  Britain,  it  is  of  prime  importance 
to  study  this  Germanic  invader  in  his  habit  as  he 
lived.  He  is  the  subject  of  these  pages ;  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  a  view  of  him,  in  different  types  and 
periods,  may  leave  some  general  impressions  —  we 
may  not  hope  for  a  sharp  picture  —  of  the  Germanic 
character. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  early  German  must  be  de- 
rived from  three  main  sources,  —  the  accounts  of  his 
foreign  contemporaries,  the  early  literature  of  Ger- 
manic races,  and  survivals ;  the  G-ermania  of  Tacitus, 
our  Anglo-Saxon  BSowulf^  and  the  church  festival  of 
All  Souls,  are  respectively  examples  of  the  three 
sources.  In  all  of  these  classes  our  material  must  be 
sifted  with  extremest  caution,  but  particularly  in  the 
second  and  third.  No  direct  literature  remains  to  us 
from  the  Germans  of  Tacitus,  and  the  songs  ^  about 
god  or  hero  which  they  chanted  in  those  early  days 
have  perished  quite  beyond  the  faintest  hope  of  recov- 
ery. But  heroic  legend  was  richly  developed  by  the 
Germans  of  the  "  Wandering,"  the  period  when  Roman 
and  barbarian  were  opposed  in  the  hottest  struggle ; 

1  Tac.  Germ.  II. ;  Ann.  II.  88. 


^■•^i^ 


6  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

and  these  legends  have  passed  with  more  or  less  purity 
into  early  Germanic  literature.  The  Christian  setting 
often  contains  a  purely  heathen  jewel. 

Evidently,  with  material  scattered  over  so  great  a 
stretch  of  time,  one  is  in  danger  of  rescuing  no  old 
German  at  all,  but  rather  of  holding  up  a  bit  of  liter- 
ary patchwork,  a  veritable  scarecrow  of  ill-matched 
garments  passing  for  a  man.     The  danger  is  real ;  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  a  type  is  far  easier  to 
establish  for  primitive  than  for  modern  times.     Facts 
have  wider  bearings  and  life  is  more  uniform  of  tone, 
the  further  we  go  back  in  history.     Early  times  lacked 
diversity  of  employment,  fine  divisions  in  the  drift  of 
thought  and  feeling.     It  is  civilization  which  brings 
out  the  individual  and  lays  emphasis  on  his  impor- 
tance—consider the  "interview,"  —  which  creates 
distinctions,  and  puts  a  thousand  angles  of  vision 
to-day  for  a  hundred  in  the  past.     One  reason  why 
Shakspere  seems  so  much  more  modern  than  Chau- 
cer is  that  the  latter  still  drew  types,  while  the  former 
drew  men  and  women.     The  Squire  becomes  Romeo, 
and  the  Wife  of  Bath  yields  to  Mrs.  Quickly  of  East- 
cheap.    What  we  must  particularly  avoid  is  to  con- 
fuse types,  to  treat  on  one  plane  the  German  of  Taci- 
tus and  the  German  who  has  absorbed  elements  of 
classical  and  Christian  culture.     The  players  of  the 
fifth  act  must  not  be  huddled  in  one  group  with  the 
simple  and  hardy  characters  who  open  the  action  and 
set  the  play  upon  its  path  of  development.      First 
of  all,  moreover,  we  must  glance  at  the  stage  itself 
on  which  our  German  made  his  rude  and  clanging 
entrance ;  we  must  study  the  scene. 

Civilization  in  the  first  centuries  of  our  era  re- 


vV 


INTRODUCTION  T 

volved  about  the  Mediterranean,  where  a  complex  of 
races  was  held  together  by  the  organizing  genius  of 
Rome.  But  the  Roman  state  was  in  decay ;  its  lack 
of  moral  greatness  combined  with  certain  political  and 
physical  defects  to  bring  about  what  a  French  scholar 
has  called  the  "  mortal  illness  "  of  epochs  which  are 
destitute  of  lofty  aims  and  firmness  of  conviction.  The 
slow  "  death  of  Rome,"  ^  consequence  of  this  malady, 
may  be  said  to  begin  with  the  invasion  of  Alaric  in 
402,  and  to  end  with  the  invasion  of  Alboin  in  568. 
With  the  latter  name  we  touch  mediaeval  literature ; 
for  Alboin  is  mentioned  in  our  oldest  piece  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  poetry,  in  the  curious  medley  of  description 
and  memories  put  into  the  mouth  of  an  ideal  Ger- 
manic minstrel,  Widsith,  "  the  far-wanderer." 

When  the  historian  begins  to  reckon  the  causes  of 
downfall,  he  has  the  right  to  put  first  and  foremost 
the  general  corruption  of  the  age.  But,  as  was  just 
now  hinted,  there  were  other  and  specific  causes,^  such 
as  thriftless  administration  of  public  and  private  prop- 
erty, excess  of  taxation,  and  high  cost  of  living.  The 
individual  was  crushed  by  the  dead  weight  of  im- 
perial organization.  Trade  and  manufactures  must 
needs  languish ;  science  led  to  no  practical  results ; 
and  there  was  absolutely  no  material  progress  to  keep 
pace  with  wider  responsibilities.  As  Hehn  remarks, 
the  empire  stretched  further  and  further,  and  yet 
Roman  ships  remained  what  they  always  had  been, 
coasting  vessels,  unable  to  contend  with  the  perils  of 
winter  or  the  open  sea.     Where  commerce  did  find 

1  Hodgkin,  Italy  and  her  Invaders,  I.  3. 

2  Best  summed  up  by  Victor  Hehn  in  his  wholly  admirable  book 
Cultw-pflanzen  und  Havsthiere  in  ihrem  Uehergang  aus  Asien,  u.8.xo., 
4th  ed.,  Berlin,  1883,  p.  394  flf. 


,38.* 


8 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


its  way,  it  gave  no  spur  to  invention,  and  accom- 
plished little  for  the  arts  of  life ;  like  the  sailor,  the 
farmer  clung  to  the  methods  and  implements  of  his 
forefathers.  In  the  world  of  mind  it  was  no  better, 
and  literature  gradually  lost  itself  in  rhetoric,  its 
only  remaining  form.  A  deep  scepticism  prevailed, 
stifling  all  creative  joy;  the  old  gods  were  merely 
excuses  for  a  priesthood,  objects  of  a  cult  in  which 
no  one  really  believed. 

Over  and  through  this  outworn  civilization  swept 
two  great  waves,  —  Christianity  from  the  east,  Ger- 
manic invasion  from  the  north.  In  one  sense,  both 
of  these  movements  were  hurtful  to  literature ;  for 
the  invaders  doubtless  annihilated  a  mass  of  precious 
material,  and  what  they  spared  was  often  the  prey  of 
monkish  bigotry .^  As  a  piece  of  revenge,  the  answer- 
ing wave  of  culture,  the  reacting  civilization  which 
carried  rudiments  of  criticism  and  letters  among  the 
barbarians,  went  far  toward  destroying  whatever  na- 
tive elements  of  literature  were  to  be  found.  The 
spirit  of  Christianity  rudely  checked  the  development 
of  the  heathen  epic  poetry;  and  such  song  as  had 
reached  form  and  substance  was  put  under  ban.  The 
Prankish  or  Saxon  monk  disdained  in  most  cases  the 
artless  poetry  of  his  vernacular ;  and  in  the  hands  of 
the  monk  lay  all  destiny  of  letters.  Still,  in  that 
general  wreck  of  literature,  it  was  Christianity  which 

1  See  the  famous  story  of  the  Athenian  libraries  which  the  Goths 
were  about  to  burn  during  a  raid  into  Greece,  near  the  end  of  the  third 
century.  It  is  told  in  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  Chap.  X.  The  "  big- 
otry,'' by  the  way,  was  not  always  "monkish."  Under  Valentinian 
and  Valens  the  persecutions  on  account  of  supposed  "  magic  "  involved 
the  destruction  of  a  vast  amount  of  philosophical  and  classical  litera- 

r 'vl^'^K^''  ^t'xf  ^^''''^^'  ""'  '^"'P^y  theological  persecution.    See 
Gibbon,  Chap.  XXV.,  and  Hodgkin,  Italy,  I.  40. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

manned  the  only  life-boat.  Christian  zeal  rescued 
many  precious  remnants  of  classical  culture,  keeping 
them  for  a  time  that  could  use  and  value  them  aright. 
Patriotic  monks  were  here  and  there  found  who 
would  set  down  the  songs  and  legends  of  the  father- 
land, notwithstanding  occasional  survivals  of  heathen- 
dom which  crept  between  the  lines, — so  we  have  a 
BSowulf,  a  Lay  of  Hildebrand ;  or  else  the  old  sub- 
jects were  treated  in  the  new  style,  as  where  German 
Ekkehard  sings  in  vigorous  Latin  hexameters  the 
story  of  Walter  and  Hildegund. 

This  last  example  brings  us  to  the  greatest  service 
which  the  church  ever  did  for  the  cause  of  letters. 
It  established  a  neutral  ground  on  which  classics  and 
barbarism  could  in  some  manner  join  hands  and  so 
save  what  was  best  in  each.  Christianity  inspired,  an 
international  literature.  Despised  by  the  learning  of 
a  riper  age,  this  literature  nevertheless  saved  the 
classics  and  preserved  those  early  records  of  the  Ger- 
manic nations  which  we  now  value  beyond  price.  To 
it  we  moderns  owe  what  a  great  scholar  owes  to  the 
simple  books  and  lessons  of  his  first  school-days.  With 
its  universal  medium  of  Latin,  it  controlled  and  shaped 
the  beginnings  of  every  literature  which  arose  in  the 
states  of  Europe.  Its  great  advantage  was  univer- 
sality; its  defect  was  monotony.  It  already  realized, 
as  Ebert  points  out,i  the  later  dream  and  longing  of 
Goethe  for  a  World-Literature ;  but  it  lacked  the  vital- 
ity of  a  national  consciousness,  is  everywhere  the  same, 
and  has  an  air  of  saying  its  lesson,  —  not  always  too 

1  The  standard  work  for  this  subject :  Adolf  Ebert,  Allgemeine  Oes- 
chichte  der  Literatur  des  Mittelalters  im  Abendlande,  3  vols.,  Leipzig. 
1874-1887.  *       f   B» 


10 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


fluently, —after  its  teacher.^  This  Christian  Latin  lit- 
erature was  the  village-school  of  learned  Europe ;  but 
while  it  trained,  it  could  not  create.  The  vital  power 
of  mediaeval  literature  lay  in  the  poetic  impulses  of 
old  Germanic  life,  —  we  are  speaking  here  of  the 
northern  nations  alone,  —  in  that  joy  of  "  singing  and 
saying"  which  our  forefathers  brought  out  of  their 
forests.  The  original  songs  have  vanished.  One  lay 
about  Arminius,  such  as  Tacitus  assures  us  was  sung 
in  his  time,  were  worth  its  millions.  But  the  later 
legends,  which  sprang  up  with  the  national  con- 
sciousness in  the  victories  over  eastern  and  western 
Romans,  still  keep  the  early  note  and  give  us  some  of 
our  best  material  for  studying  the  ancient  German. 
True,  they  are  inspired  by  contact  with  civilization, 
but  the  contact  calls  out  a  national  and  original 
utterance. 

It  is  in  the  first  flush  of  Germanic  conquest,  in  the 
clash  of  a  fresh,  ignomnt  race  with  a  corrupt,  out- 
worn but  highly  civilized  race,  in  the  awakening 
of  national  consciousness,  that  we  should  like  to 
make  our  picture  of  the  ancient  German.  But 
such  a  picture  is  no  easy  affair.  The  clash  of  Ger- 
many and  Rome  lasted  five  hundred  years ;  and  the 
Goth  had  grown  as  civilized  as  the  Romans  at  a  time 
when  his  Saxon  brother  was  still  the  barbarian  of 
Tacitus.  We  must  look  to  our  historical  and  geo- 
graphical perspective. 

The  pressure  of  Germanic  invasion  which  finally 
burst  the  barriers  of  Rome  was  not  altogether  spon- 

1  "One  feels,"  says  Mullenhoff,  "that  the  early  middle  ages  wore 
another  color  and  spoke  another  speech  than  we  find  in  their  chronicles 
and  documents."    Deutsche  Alter thumskunde,  Vol.  I.  Vorrede  p  v 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


taneous.  For  a  long  time  previous  to  the  fall  of 
the  empire,  there  had  been  a  restless  movement  in 
the  heart  of  Germany;  and  while  we  find  some  ex- 
planation for  this  in  the  nomadic  character  and  mili- 
tary instincts  of  the  race,  we  must  attribute  no  small 
share  to  the  pressure  of  Huns  and  other  tribes  upon 
Germans  of  the  east  and  north.  The  actual  "  move- 
ment of  the  tribes,"  or  Volkerwanderung^  is  usually 
referred  to  a  round  century  from  the  flight  of 
the  WestrGoths  into  Roman  territory,  —  they  were 
driven  by  the  Huns,  —  until  the  fall  of  the  Western 
Empire.^  The  late  Professor  Scherer  tells  us^  that 
the  historic  consciousness  of  the  Germans  dates  from 
this  movement ;  and  we  may  say  that  it  was  during 
this  entire  period  that  German  after  German  came  out 
of  his  barbaric  environment  and  took  up  that  strange 
battle  between  an  old  civilization  and  a  new  race  in 
which  each  is  victor  and  each  is  vanquished.  It  is 
in  this  period  that  we  have  the  real  conflict  between 
Roman  and  German,  a  struggle  along  the  entire  line 
and  fought  for  life  or  death;  but  there  had  been 
many  a  previous  encounter.  Southern  Aryans  first 
heard  of  their  kinsmen  in  the  north,  not  so  much  by 
conquest,  as  in  the  peaceful  way  of  trade.  Miillen- 
hoff  is  of  opinion  ^  that  nearly  all  the  supply  of  tin 
came  from  Britain,  and  that  the  trade  began  in  times 
too  early  for  computation.  Tin  was  needed  for  the 
making  of  bronze  ;  but  another  eagerly  sought  article 
was  valued  for  itself.  Amber  — it  is  mentioned  in 
the  Odyssey  —  was  in  all  probability  the  means  of 
putting  Greeks  in  communication  with  the  shores  of 


1  See  F.  Dahn,  Bausteine,  I.  282. 

2  Oeschichte  d.  deutschen  Lit.  p.  22. 


8  D.  A.  1. 211. 


12 


GERMANIC  ORIGIlSrS 


the  Baltic,  and  with  the  Germanic  tribes  who  lived 
there.  Greek  coins  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries 
before  Christ  have  been  found  near  the  Baltic  ;  but 
in  Miillenhoff's  opinion,  commerce  at  that  time  was 
indirect,  and  articles  were  forwarded  from  tribe  to 
tribe.  The  first  person,  therefore,  who  brought  to  the 
Greeks  a  definite  knowledge  of  the  north,  was  Pytheas 
of  Marseilles,  a  Grecian  geographer  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  who  "  followed  the  old  path  of 
the  Phoenicians,"  and  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  tin- 
mining  processes  in  Britain.^  He  went  further.  We 
may  assume,  concludes  Miillenhoff,  after  a  most  elab- 
orate investigation,  "  that  Pytheas  saw  with  his  own 
eyes  the  islands  and  shores  of  the  North  Sea,  passed 
the  mouths  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  boundary  between 
Celts  and  Scytho-Teutons ;  but  found  it  best  to 
push  no  further  among  unknown  races,  and  so  con- 
tented himself  for  the  rest  with  what  he  heard  of 
them."  2 

Thus,  so  far  as  we  know,  came  the  first  tidings 
about  our  ancestors  to  the  ancient  world.  Their  firet 
actual  appearance  on  the  border  of  the  civilized  coun- 
tries about  the  Mediterranean,  is  not  definitely  set- 
tled. Miillenhoff  thinks  the  Bastarnse  were  Germanic, 
a  tribe  mentioned  by  Tacitus  and  Pliny;  they  appeared 
on  the  lower  Danube  about  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century  before  Christ.    A  king  of  Macedonia 

1  Mullenhoff,  D.  A.  I.  375,  472.  "  The  Humboldt  of  antiquity,"  as 
Pytheas  is  called,  is  also  discussed,  with  less  critical  knowledge,  by 
Elton,  Origins  of  English  History,  p.  6  ff.  It  should  be  added  that 
Professor  Rhys,  Celtic  Britain,  p.  47,  says  there  was  no  direct  trade 
between  Cornwall  and  the  continent,  and  adds  that  there  is  no  "  scrap 
of  evidence,  linguistic  or  other,  of  the  presence  of  Phoenicians  in 
Britain  at  any  time." 

^  n.  A.  I.  495. 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


is  said^  to  have  sent  an  embassy  to  them  and  to 
have  asked  them  for  troops  as  allies.  According 
to  Miillenhoff,  the  Bastarnse  came  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  upper  Vistula,  attracted  by  southern 
fertility ;  in  the  third  century  of  our  era  they  vanish 
utterly. 

Next  of  Germanic  races  to  tread  the  tempting  but 
perilous  path  southward  were  the  Cimbrians  and 
Teutons.  A  large  part  of  the  second  volume  of 
Miillenhoff's  great  work  on  German  Archaeology,  the 
Deutsche  Alterthumskunde,  is  devoted  to  a  searching 
investigation  into  the  details,  scanty  and  disconnected 
as  they  are,  which  Greek  and  Roman  writers  have  left 
us  in  regard  to  this  movement,  —  a  movement  which, 
like  the  battle  of  Marathon,  though  less  decisively, 
struck  into  the  very  heart  of  history .^  Miillenhoff 
makes  ^  it  strongly  probable  that  these  tribes  were 
Germanic,  and  that  their  names  —  for  the  later  term 
'  Germanic '  was  not  used  at  Rome  till  about  80  B.C.* — 
were  given  to  them  by  neighboring  Celts.  Cimbrians^ 
may  be  translated  "  robbers,"  and  Teutons  "  bands,"  or 
"  multitudes."  They  came,  after  a  succession  of  Celtic 
movements  had  left  vacant  tracts  between  the  Weser 
and  the  Rhine,  from  the  old  home  of  the  Germans,  a 
region  bounded  by  the  Oder,  the  Harz  mountains, 
and  the  Thuringian  hills.  Till  a  couple  of  centuries 
before  Christ,  if  Miillenhoff  is  right,  this  girdle  of 

1  For  references,  see  Zeuss,  Die  Deutschen  und  ihre  Nachhar- 
stamme,  p.  129.  Zeuss  says  without  reservation :  "  Die  Bastarnen  sind 
das  erste  deutsche  Volk  welches  auf  dem  Schauplatze  der  Geschichte 
auftritt. ..." 

2  The  author  reminds  us  that  it  is  now  about  two  thousand  years 
since  that  Cimbrian  terror  heralded  the  Germanic  invasion  of  Europe. 

«  D.  A.  II.  207.  *  Ibid.  II.  189. 

fi  The  name  has  nothing  to  do  with  **  Cymry,"  etc.    Ibid.  II.  116. 


14 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


INTRODUCTION 


15 


primeval  forest^  had  separated  the  Germans  from 
the  Celts.  Now  they  broke  their  bounds  and  streamed 
southward,  the  Cimbrians  a  swarm  made  up  from 
various  tribes  along  the  middle  Elbe,^  the  Teutons 
mainly  from  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea.  The 
Romans  had  a  tradition  that  this  great  invasion  was 
caused  by  floods,  which  drove  Cimbrians  and  Teutons 
out  of  their  homes  "  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth.''  3 

What  havoc  they  wrought  in  Italy  we  know  from 
Livy  and  Plutarch.*  Rome  was  saved  at  Aquae  Sex- 
tise  by  the  genius  of  Marius  ;  and  the  great  barbarian 
wave  melted  away  to  the  northward  almost  as  suddenly 
as  it  had  come.  Not  very  long  afterward,  however, 
a  kinsman  of  Marius,  bent  on  the  conquest  of  Celtic 
Gaul,  found,  across  his  path  and  intent  on  the  same 
errand,  an  army  from  east  of  the  Rhine,  the  hordes  of 
Ariovistus  the  German.  Caesar  was  quick  to  see  that 
here  was  the  deadliest  foe  of  Rome.^  The  destruction 
of  the  Suevians,  the  Rhine-bridge,  the  legions  led  upon 
German  soil,  are  evidences  of  Caesar's  greatness  as 
statesman  as  well  as  soldier.  His  achievements  not 
only  furnished  a  model  for  the  few  victorious  cam- 
paigns of  his  successor,  not  only  saved  Gaul  to 
the  Romans,  but  in  the  judgment  of  competent  men, 
prolonged  by  centuries  the  very  existence  of  Rome 

1  See  also  Kiepert,  Alte  Geographic,  p.  635. 

2  D.  A.  II.  289. 

8  Dahn  (see  next  note)  finds  this  notion  credible. 

^  A  vivid  account  of  the  invasion  is  given  by  Dahn,  Urgeschichte 
der  germanischen  nnd  romanischen  ViUker,  in  Vol.  U.  Of  course  Plu- 
tarch's Marius  is  the  most  detailed  ancient  account 

5  Read^^e//.  Gall  I.  33,  his  own  words  upon  this  danger  to  his 
country  Chapters  43^,  describing  the  interview  of  C^sar  and  Ario- 
vistus,  have  high  dramatic  interest. 


itself.  There  is  something  almost  theatrical  in  that 
opening  clash  of  arms  between  the  conquerors  of  the 
world,  with  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  generals  at 
their  head,  and  a  mass  of  half-naked  barbarians,  —  in 
this  beginning  of  a  war  which  lasted  for  five  hundi-ed 
years,  which  saw  the  old  world  with  its  arts  and 
learning  go  down  in  wreck,  and  the  new  world 
arise  in  all  its  incompleteness  and  rawness,  but  in 
all  its  immense  and  eager  vitality.  Rude  as  they 
were,  these  Germans  henceforth  held  a  foremost  place 
in  the  eyes  of  statesmen  who  knew  how  to  estimate 
the  perils  of  the  empire.  Germans  were  sought  as 
soldiers,  as  allies ;  the  two  nations  came  in  touch ; 
what  Germans  were  and  what  they  did  became  a 
matter  of  interest.  Caesar  fixed  his  keen  eye  upon 
them ;  a  century  or  so  later  came  Tacitus  and  studied 
them.  Roman  statecraft  now  bought,  now  fought, 
but  always  kept  planning  the  destruction  of  such 
unwelcome  neighbors.  At  first,  Drusus  and  Ger- 
manicus  almost  completed  Caesar's  policy  of  con- 
quest ;  but  later  this  was  given  up,  and  a  system  of 
border  fortifications  ^  threw  the  Germans  back  upon 
themselves,  brought  about  their  solidarity,  checked 
the  old  nomadic  drif tings  of  the  tribes,  and  organized 
them  into  nations.  Four  centuries  of  wai^  and  treaties, 
bribes  and  bargains,  —  the  Germans  fighting  together 
against  the  Romans,  as  allies  with  the  Romans,  and 
against  one  another,  —  must  have  sent  a  vast  amount 
of  civilization,  both  for  good  and  for  evil,  across  the 

1  The  so-called  Limes  ran  from  about  the  junction  of  Lahn  and  Rhine 
to  a  point  near  the  junction  of  the  Altmiihl  and  the  Danube.  This 
line  was  held  by  the  Romans  for  two  centuries.  See  Arnold,  Deutsche 
Urzeit,  p.  81  f . 


16 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Rhine.  Indeed,  most  of  the  early  lessons  which  Ger- 
mans learned  of  Rome  seem  to  have  lain  in  the 
direction  of  perfidy  and  bribes.  "  We  have  taught 
them,"  even  Tacitus  could  say,  "  to  take  our  money ; "  ^ 
and  they  soon  became  skilled  in  the  art  of  selling  a 
treaty,  and  of  breaking  it.  Vellejus  ^  says  that  the 
Germans,  for  all  their  barbarism,  are  thoroughly  sly 
and  seem  born  for  lying  and  deceit.  But  this  opinion 
is  provoked  by  the  victory  over  Varus.  Large  bodies 
of  soldiers  were  formed  who  lived  along  the  Roman 
border,  separated  from  the  good  influences  of  home 
and  family ,2  and  exposed  to  all  the  vices  of  mercenary 
warfare ;  centuries  of  this  life  must  have  destroyed 
much  of  the  old  Germanic  virtue.  The  low-water 
mark  of  Germanic  morals  was  reached  by  the  Mero- 
vingian Franks.  Stubbs  does  not  seem  to  think  that 
much  change  was  wrought  in  Germanic  character 
during  the  early  part  of  the  period  we  have  described. 
The  institutions  of  our  forefathers,  he  believes,  re- 
mained practically  the  same  for  the  two  centuries 
succeeding  the  time  of  Tacitus;  "nor  is  there  any 
occasion  to  presume  a  development  in  the  direction 
of  civilization."  *  Much  of  this  may  be  true  for  the 
remote  tribes,  for  Angles  and  Saxons ;  but  the  border 

1  Germ.  XV.  a  n.  118. 

8  See  Loebell,  Gregor  von  Tours,  2d  ed.  p.  75  f.  A  description  of 
certain  German  tribes,  who  were  still  heathen,  and  whose  virtues  are 
held  up  to  the  dissolute  Christians  of  Rome  and  Gaul,  is  often  quoted : 
"Gothorum  gens  perfida,  sed  pudica  est  [the  Goths  held  the  Arian 
heresy],  Alamannorum  impudica  sed  minus  perfida.  Franci  mendaces, 
sed  hospitales,  Saxones  crudelitate  efferi,  sed  castitate  mirandi."  That 
is,  the  Goths  are  faithless  but  chaste,  Alamanniaus  unchaste  but  less 
treacherous,  Franks  liars  but  hospitable,  Saxons  ferociously  cruel  but 
of  admirable  chastity.  Salviauus,  however,  has  a  suspicious  leaning 
toward  antithesis.    See  Grimm,  Deutsche  Mythologie,  4th  ed.  III.  1  f. 

*  Const  Hist.  England,  I.  37. 


INTRODUCTION 


17 


and  interior  tribes  of  Germany  must  have  changed 
greatly,  and  some  faint  ripple  of  these  changes  may 
have  reached  the  north.  Victor  Helm,  in  the  admira- 
ble book  already  quoted,^  says  that  the  Romanizing 
process  began  before  the  movement  of  the  tribes; 
and  he  calls  attention  to  the  great  part  played  by 
Belgium  in  mediating  between  culture  and  barbarism. 

With  the  overthrow  of  the  empire  we  have  a  level- 
ling of  walls  and  dikes,  a  rush  of  strange  elements  in 
each  direction.  Barbarians  sit  on  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars,  and  Roman  laws  are  current  in  the  forests 
of  Arminius.  Over  all  is  the  mediation  of  the  new 
faith.  Wattenbach  reminds  us  that  while  later  ac- 
counts attribute  the  spread  of  the  Christian  religion 
to  individuals,  apostles  like  Boniface  or  bishops 
and  missionaries  like  Augustine,  in  reality  much 
was  done  by  persons  of  no  name  or  fame,  —  mer- 
chants, soldiers,  laborers,  —  converted  men,  who 
worked  in  many  places  and  with  great  effect.^  We 
can  extend  this  humble  but  potent  influence  to  other 
fields.  Culture  of  every  kind  must  have  been  car- 
ried in  this  fashion  to  all  parts  of  northern  Europe, 
which  were  open  to  Roman  and  German. 

Enough  has  now  been  said  to  show  that  our  typi- 
cal German,  like  Plato's  ideal  horse,  is  a  very  difficult 
matter  to  define  and  draw ;  and,  indeed,  he  has  been 
drawn  in  every  shade  from  absolute  savagery  to  a 
graceful  and  accomplished  person,  as  unlimited  in 
courtesy  and  intellect  as  in  muscular  development, 
who  "cultive  ses  jardins,  les  vertus  et  les  arts." 
Jacob  Grimm  had  some  indulgence  for  this  nobler 

1  p.  403. 

2  Wattenbach,  Deiitsehlands  Geschichtsquellen  im  Mittelalter,  5th 
ed.  p.  37  f.    See  also  Winckelmann,  Geschichte  der  Angelsachsen,  p.  22. 


M 


18 


GERMANIC  OldGINS 


type;  and  while  one  would  rather  err  with  Grimm 
than  be  right  with  Adelung,  one  must  nevertheless 
admit  that  love  for  the  Germanic  past  has  sometimes 
carried  even  the  greatest  scholar  of  our  century  too 
far.      There  are  two  assumptions.     One  is  that  the 
German  of  Tacitus  was  a  mere  nomadic  barbarian, 
and  all  attributes  of  civilization  found  in  him  a  few 
centuries  later  are  the  result  of  contact  with  Rome. 
The  other  assumption  clothes  the  primitive  German 
with  these  same  attributes,  —  that  is,  with  the  virtues 
and  mental  habit,  if  not  with  the  accomplishments, 
of  civilization.     The  advocates  of  both  theories  can 
find  in  the  chaos  of  material  whatever  facts  they 
need.    In  recent  times,  modern  savage  life  has  been 
heavily  drawn    upon    to    supply  pictures   of  early 
Germanic  culture.      It  is  the  disciples  of  ethnology 
who  depict  our  ancestor  in  such  a  degraded  guise ; 
while  the  philologists  still  paint  a  portrait  that  glows 
with  too  many  hues  of  civilization.^     Of  course  it  is 
the  point  of  view  that  is  continually  shifted  with 
such  disastrous  results.     What  an  enormous  differ- 
ence  between    the    Germany  of  Boniface   and  the 
Germany  of  Tacitus  or  Csesar !     We  turn  from  the 
idle,  half-naked  brawler  of  the   G-ermania,  the  chief- 
tain of  Tacitus,  to  Theodoric  the  Goth  quoting  Taci- 
tus himself  on  the  subject  of  amber  ..."  Cornelia 
scribente;'  he  says,  just  as  any  Roman  would  mve  us 
a  line  of  Virml.2 

o 

1  Wackernagel  thought  a  fair  mean  could  be  obtained  by  taking  the 
civihzation  of  the  Greeks  as  described  by  Homer,  and  assuming  the 
"^TtkT       P'"^^^'^«  Germany.    See  Kleinere  Schriften,  I.  2. 

Ihe  kmg  -  through  Cassiodorus  -  is  thanking  a  tribe  by  tlie  Baltic 


INTRODUCTION 


19 


Basis  of  our  description  must  be  the  Germania 
of  Tacitus.  But  we  are  justified  in  adding  to  this 
picture  those  traits  of  Germanic  temperament  which 
were  developed  under  pressure  of  the  later  struggle 
with  Rome.  Thus  the  virtues  of  Siegfried  are  not 
classical  or  Roman  virtues ;  they  are  the  attributes  of 
an  ideal  German  of  the  warrior  type,  blending  with 
conceptions  of  the  Germanic  myth.  But  where  are 
we  to  stop  in  this  process?  Where  shall  we  draw 
the  line  which  separates  Germanic  from  Christianized 
and  Romanized  Germanic  ?  The  answer  is  involved 
in  the  question.  Christian  faith  and  Roman  culture, 
from  the  time  of  the  tribal  movement  on,  went  hand 
in  hand ;  and  where  the  German  stands  hostile  to 
these,  he  must  retain  most  of  his  primitive  character- 
istics. Now  the  West-Goths  were  converted  in  the 
fourth  century,  about  375,  then  the  East-Goths  and 
Vandals ;  early  in  the  fifth  century  the  Burgundians, 
later  the  Franks ;  in  the  sixth,  Alamannians  and 
Lombards;  Bavarians  in  the  seventh  and  eighth; 
Frisians,  Hessians,  and  Thuringians  in  the  eighth; 
Saxons  in  the  ninth.  This  is  for  the  Continent. 
Anglo-Saxons  were  converted  about  600,  and  took 
the  lion's  share  in  converting  their  continental  breth- 
ren. Scandinavians  accepted  Christianity  in  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.^  It  is  evident  not  only 
that  these  tribes  must  have  varied  in  the  extent  and 
accuracy  of  their  heathen  traditions,  but  also  that  we 
are  at  liberty  to  use  primitive  material  even  when  we 
find  it  covered  with  more  or  less  theological  varnish 

1  Legend  said  that  King  Arthur  had  conquered  and  Christianized 
Norway  and  Iceland,  and  it  even  went  so  far  as  to  make  the  apostles 
themselves  carry  the  gospel  to  Scandinavia. 


■m 


20 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


from  the  hands  of  a  monkish  scribe.    Moreover,  let 
us  remember  that  the  epoch  of  heroic  legends  was 
closed  about  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  when  at 
least  half   the   Germanic   tribes  were   unconverted. 
The  Angles,  Saxons,  Jutes,  and  perhaps  Danes,  who 
conquered  and  settled  Britain  in  the  fifth   century 
were  absolute  heathens;   and  it  needed  three  hun- 
dred years  more  to  bring  the  gospel  to  those  swamps 
and  forests  which  stretched  along  the  German  ocean 
and  mto  the  Cimbrian  peninsula.     The  continental 
Saxons  had  the  reputation  of  great  conservatism,  and 
up  to  the  tune  of  the  exodus  to  Britain  had  wan- 
dered least  of  all  the  Germanic  tribes.^     We  must 
therefore  be  careful  to  abstract  from  our  notion  of 
the  Germanic  settlers  of  England   whatever  traits, 
found  in  the  continental  German,  are  to  be  ascribed 
to  a  long   contact  vnth    Christianity  and    Roman 
culture. 

Chronology  in  some  wise  determined,  and  enough 
hxstoncal  perspective  assured  for  our  purpose,  we 
need  to  fix  clearly  the  geographical  limits  and  divis- 
ions of  Germany.  All  work  done  in  this  field  rests, 
m  the  first  instance,  on  the  information  given  us  by 

tiic  ixermama.^      Ihere  have  been  douhts 
-sed  regarding  the   trustwoxthiness  of   tWs   book 
none,  perhaps,  going  so  far  as  a  general  denial,  but  in 
one  mstance  at  least,  making,  if  successfully  proved 

of  S;  r  ^"  ^^^'  ^^'  ™"«^  outspoken  enemy 

of  the   Germama;  he   assails   its   ethno^raphv  and 
opposes  .ts  statements.     «  Much,"  he  s.y^XlicTts 

'  Dahn,  Urgeschichte  der  german.  und  roman.  Volker,  II.  307. 


INTRODUCTION 


21 


held  to  be  German  is  Slavonic,"  and  he  insists  that 
there  were  "  Slavonians  from  the  Teutoburger  Wald 
to  the  Vistula."  1     These  assertions  of   Dr.  Latham 
are  rejected  utterly  by  modern  criticism.     There  is, 
however,  another  sort  of  opposition,  not  yet  silent, 
which  attacks  not  so  much  facts  as  motives.    Most 
energetic  in  this  respect  is  the  commentator  Baum- 
stark,  who  has  somewhere  spoken  of  the  "rose-red 
romanticism  of  the  sickly  sentimental  Tacitus," —  in 
troth,  my  captain,  bitter  words  !     And  another  writer, 
but  of  a  very  different  school,  Lippert,  the  follower 
of  Spencer,  tells  us  that  Tacitus,  for  the  sake  of  the 
moral  effect  upon  his  countrymen,  makes  out  of  every 
German  necessity  a  German  virtue,  and  so  gives  us 
a  quite  false  picture  of  German  civilization.^    That 
is  no  new  accusation.     The  poet   Heine  speaks  of 
hearing  E.  M.  Arndt  lecture  on  the  Germama,  and  to 
our  satiric  young  Hebrew  the  enthusiastic  professor 
seemed  to  "  seek  in  old  German  forests  those  virtues 
which  he  missed  in  modern  drawing-rooms."  3    More- 
over, the  same  Heine,  in  a  less  playful  mood,  com- 
pares  the   Germama  with   Madame  de  Stael's  book 
De  UAllemagne,  and  thinks  the  former  "  a  satire  on 
Rome."  *     Are  we,  then,  to  regard  this  study  of  the 
Germans  as  partly  an  idyl  and  partly  a  political  pam- 
phlet?    Is  it  a  Roman    "Utopia"?     There  may  be 
some  justice  in  this  conclusion.     One  recent  writer 
has  based  it  upon  a  critical  study  of  the  method  em- 
ployed by  Tacitus,  and  shows,  or  tries  to  show,  that 

1  In  Kemble's  Horx  Ferales,  pp.  1-35,  and  especially  p.  47. 

2  Religion  der  europdischen  Culturviilker,  p.  120. 

8  Heine,  '•  Works,"  Hoffman  und  Campe,  1885,  Vol.  13,  p.  49. 
*  Heine,  Die  Eomantische  Schule,  "  Works,"  Vol.  7,  p.  168. 


22 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


INTRODUCTION 


23 


in  the  arrangement  and  description  of  the  different 
races  of  Germany,'  the  Roman  historian  was  governed 
mainly  by  the  idea  of  artistic  grouping  and  picturesque 
effect.*    Much  of  this  claim  may  be  granted.     True, 
so  great  an  authority  as  Waitz  insists  3  that  Tacitus 
wrote  purely  as  a  historian,  and  not  as  a  moralist. 
But  we  may  concede  something  to  the  artist  in  Taci- 
tus,   It  is  likely  enough  that  he  cared  more  for  his 
coloring  and  contrasts  than  for  the  accuracy  of  his 
Ime.    He  paints  the  Chatti  ferocious  to  a  fault  the 
Chauci  full  of  the  fruits  of  peace.    But  granted  that 
he  purposely  arranges  his  models,  and  here  or  there 
exaggerates  their  peculiarities,  no  one  can  doubt  that 
the  group  as  a  whole  is  true  to  nature.     His  chief 
sources  of  information  were   the  works  of  Sallust 
Cffisar,  Livy,  and  Pliny  the  Elder,  in  addition  to  the 
reports  of  officers  and  soldiers  who   had   served  in 
Germany.     It  is  hardly  likely  that  Tacitus  saw  much 
with  his  own  eyes ;  but  as  politician  and  office-holder 
he  had  many  indirect  opportunities  of  studying  his 
subject     Aft«r  the  fiercest  possible  light  has  bfaten 
for  centunes  upon  his  work,  the  author  of  the  <}erma. 
ma  IS  haile.d  by  modem  criticism  as  a  keen  observer 
and  an  accurate  historian. 

The  name  «  German  "  has  given  rise  to  a  great  deal 
of  discussion.  It  seems  to  be  of  Celtic  origin  and 
rS"  ^ii^-  "-^hbors"  or  "those  whrit 
m  battle.      Tacitus  explains  it  to  be  of  late  origin 

*  Germ.  XXVI.-XLIV. 

»  yerfassxiugsgeschichte,  3d  ed    I    n    S^    wk 
pleading  in  Tacitus  it  i«  nf  T  I,        ^'      '    ^^^^^^  ^^  find  special 
XXXVII.  '      ''  '^  *  °"^^^  ««'*'  "k«  the  fine  outburst  in  Cap! 


and  due  to  the  fact  that  a  tribe,  in  his  day  called 
"  Tungri,"  but  earlier  known  as  "  Germani,"  crossing 
the  Rhine  and  driving  away  the  Gauls,  had  brought 
it  about  that  the  name  of  a  single  tribe  was  extended 
to  all  the  race.^     It  is  reasonable  enough  that  a  race 
should  get   its   name   from   abroad.     Jacob   Grimm 
remarks  ^  that  names  of  tribes,  like  names  of  human 
beings,  are  given  to  them  by  others:    "the  need  is 
greater  to  name  a  third  person   than  to  name  our- 
selves."    Still,  the  Germans  had  a  sense  of  relation- 
ship, even  if  they  lacked  "  solidarity."  ^     Long  after- 
wards, they  called  their  own  tongue  "  belonging  to 
the  people,"  —  in  Anglo-Saxon,  theodisc,  as  opposed 
to  "  Welsh,"  the  talk  "  of  the  stranger."     It  was  long 
a  favorite  gibe  with  Englishmen  that  the  fiends  in  hell 
spoke  this  latter  language  ;  and  from  a  passage  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Life  of  St.  Guthlac  (in  prose),  down  to 
Hotspur's  remark :  "  Now  I  perceive  the  devil  under- 
stands Welsh,"  this  notion  held  both  in  jest  and  in 
earnest.     Dunbar,  the  Scottish  poet,  refines  the  fun 
a  little  by  making  even  the  devil  rebel  against  the 
hideous  Gaelic  of  his  followers.*     To  this  day,  Ger- 
mans call  Italy  "  Walschland."     The  names  of  the 
different  tribes  or  clans  were  gentile,  sprung  from  the 
family  system.^ 

1  Germ.  II.,  a  much  disputed  passage,  but  clear  in  the  fact,  if  not 
in  the  reason  for  the  fact.  The  best  recent  summary  of  criticism  is  by 
Mullenhofl,  Deutsche  Alter thumskunde,  II.  198  f.  See  also  Baum- 
stark,  Germania,  100  ff. 

2  Geschichte  d.  devtschen  Sprache  (henceforth  G.  D.  S.),  p.  108. 
8  A  fine  defence  of  it  in  Grimm's  G.  D.  S.  p.  792. 

4  See  his  famous  Dance  of  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins,  in  Schipper's 
beautiful  edition,  now  appearing  in  Vienna,  Part  II.  p.  133,  and  note. 

6  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  England,  I.  38.  Compare  further  Birming- 
ham, Walsingham,  etc.,  also  the  names  of  tribes  in  the  WidsiS  Lay. 


24 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


INTRODUCTION 


25 


How  much  territory  the  Germans  occupied  in  the 
first  century  of  our  era  is  stated  with  sufficient  clear- 
ness by  Tacitus.  "  Germany  as  a  whole,"—  that  is, 
Greater  Germany,  east  of  the  Rhine,  not  the  Gallic 
provinces  called  Germania,  — "  is  sundered  from 
Gaul,  Rhsetia,  and  Pannonia  by  the  rivers  Rhine  and 
Danube,  from  Sarmatia  and  Dacia  by  mutual  fear 
or  by  the  mountains :  the  rest  is  bounded  by  Ocean, 
which  flows  around  broad  peninsulas  and  huge 
islands."  ^  In  tliis  description  it  suited  the  political 
purposes  of  Tacitus,  so  conjectures  Miillenhoff,^  to 
leave  Germany  practically  unlimited  in  at  least  one 
direction ;  else  the  Vistula  would  have  been  given  as 
a  boundary.  Moreover,  for  artistic  reasons  it  may 
be,  Noricum  is  also  omitted  from  the  contiguous 
countries.     Still,  the,  general  facts  are  clear  enough. 

Within  the  territory  named,  Tacitus  informs  us, 
the  population  of  Germany  may  be  divided  into  three 
groups:  the  Ingsevones  (or  Ingvseones)  who  lived 
nearest  the  ocean ;  the  middle  race  of  Herminones ; 
and  in  the  south  the  Istsevones  (or  Istvseones). 
Pliny  adds  another  group,  the  Hilleviones ;  these 
Zeuss  assigns  to  Scandinavia.^  The  fact  that  these 
three  continental  tribes  have  names  which  are  bound 
together  by  rhyme  —  so-called  "  alliteration  "  —  in  the 
well  known  Germanic  fashion,*  makes  their  genuine 
character  extremely  probable.  The  traditions  which 
held  together  each  of  these  groups  were  probably  of 

1  He  seems  to  think  North  Germany  full  of  islands,  and  long  after 
his  time  Scandinavia  itself  passed  for  the  greatest  of  them. 

2  D.  A.  II.  3  f. 

8  Germ.  II. ;  Zeuss,  Die  Deutschen  u.  die  Nachbarstamme,  p.  77. 
^Hengist  and  Horsa;  Heorogar,  HroSgar,  and  Halga  in  Beowulf; 
Gunther,  Giselher,  and  Gemot  in  the  Nibehingen  Lay,  and  others. 


a  religious  nature,  and  were  retained  in  a  common 
cult.^  The  Ingfevones,  our  own  ancestors,  held 
Ingvas  as  father  and  founder  of  our  race ;  and  we 
find  Ing  mentioned,  seemingly  as  a  god,  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Rune-Lay.  Ermanas  and  Istvas  were  similarly 
the  founders  of  their  respective  clans.  The  three 
names,  if  we  may  follow  MiillenhofTs  interpretation,^ 
mean  "  He  who  is  come,"  "  The  exalted  one,"  "  He 
who  is  desired  and  honored."  In  ancient  song,  says 
Tacitus,  our  forefathers  record  (^celehrant^  these  three 
as  sons  of  Mannus,  the  original  man,  himself  son  of 
Tuisto,  whom  Tacitus  calls  "  a  god  born  of  the  earth," 
deum  terra  editum.  In  this  way  the  clans  about  the 
North  Sea  and  along  the  Cimbrian  peninsula,  though 
hardly  a  united  political  body,  felt  a  close  tie  of  kin- 
ship. It  was  emphatically  a  sea-loving  race,  —  Fris- 
ians, Angles,  Jutes,  Saxons :  these  are  our  forefathers, 
together,  it  is  probable,  with  a  few  of  the  Danes. 
It  is  significant  enough  that  Saxons,  Danes,  and  Nor- 
mans made  the  three  conquests  of  Britain. 

Let  us  glance  a  moment  at  the  separate  tribes  of 
these  three  groups.  In  the  first  and  second  centuries 
after  Christ,^  the  Saxons  were  settled  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Elbe  opposite  the  Chauci,  with  Reudigni 
and  Anglii  north  of  them  and  running  well  up  into 
the  peninsula.  Southeast  of  the  Saxons  and  east  of 
the  Langobardi  were  the  Suevi-Semnones.  Scandi- 
navia was  already  settled  by  Germanic  tribes.  The 
Goths  were  still  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Vistula, 

1  Waitz.  Ver/assungsges.  1. 15,  thinks  the  division  was  based  on  lin- 
guistic differences. 

2  HaupVs  Zeitschrift  fur  deutsches  Alterthum,  23.  1  ff. 

8  See  maps  I.  and  II.  at  the  end  of  Mullenhoff's  D.  A.  II. ;  also 
Kiepert,  Alte  Geographic,  p.  537  ff. 


4 


26 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


INTRODUCTION 


27 


with  Slavonic  and  other  neighbors  on  the  east  and 
northeast.  Such  was  the  situation  in  the  earliest  cen- 
turies of  our  era.  Then  came  the  great  movement 
of  the  tribes,  which  changed  completely  the  positions 
of  many  German  nations ;  but  Frisians,  Angles,  and 
Saxons  held  their  ground.  The  latter  had  long  been 
known  as  desperate  pirates,  —  in  fact,  as  early  as  the 
second  century.  They  gave  the  name  to  that  "  Saxon 
Shore  "  of  Britain,  and  made  necessary  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Comes  Litorls  Saxonici  per  JBritanniam,  one 
of  the  most  important  officials  of  the  empire,  with  his 
"nine  strong  castles  dotted  along  the  coast  from 
Yarmouth  to  Shoreham."  i  These  Saxon  pirates, 
with  their  Frisian  and  Anglian  neighbors,  clung  to 
the  coast,  while  the  Goths  were  wandering  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  to  the  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea,  or  while  the  Lombards  made  their  slow  way 
to  Italy .2  The  sea-myths  of  the  latter  tribe  were 
changed  to  suit  an  inland  life  ;  what  was  once  an 
ocean  legend  was  forced  to  adapt  itself  to  the  tamer 
scene  of  a  river.^  As  our  forefathers  had  been,  so 
they  remained ;  and  it  was  no  new  path  they  sought, 
when,  about  the  time  that  Attila  was  crushed  upon 
the  Catalaunian  plains,  these  heathen  Germans  were 
"  driving  their  foaming  keels  "  over  the  North  Sea 
towards  the  coast  of  Britain,  no  longer  pirates,  but 
invaders,  conquerors,  settlers.     Nor  need  we  assume 

1  Hodgkin,  Itahj,  I.  228. 

2  Possibly  the  three  families  of  Ingaevones.  Herminones.  and  Istsevo- 
nes  failed  to  keep  strict  lines  in  this  general  movement.  Possibly  some 
of  the  later  groups,  like  Franks  or  Thuringians,  may  have  been  formed 
from  two  of  these  divisions.    See  Arnold,  Deutsche  Urzeit,  p.  125. 

8  The  story  of  Lamissio,  Paulus  Diac.  1. 15,  and  Mullenhoff.  Beovulf, 


any  pressure  from  enemies  at  home,  the  Danes  for 
example,  as  sending  our  forefathers  into  exile. ^  They 
were  men  of  their  hands,  and  had  that  love  for  fight 
and  adventure,  that  habit  of  seeking  war  afar  if  they 
could  not  find  it  at  their  dooi*s,  which  Tacitus  records 
of  the  Germans  at  large.  Indeed,  the  Ingaevonic  race 
is  early  known  in  history.  The  Romans  had  no  more 
dangerous  foes  and  no  more  valued  allies  than  the 
men  of  this  same  strain.  Thus  the  Frisians,  to  whom 
we  are  closely  related,  are  first  mentioned  during  the 
campaigns  of  Drusus ;  with  the  Batavians,  they  dwelt 
on  the  northwestern  coast  of  Europe,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Rhine. 2  They  threw  off  the  Roman  yoke  and 
were  free  and  unmolested  until  the  year  47  A.  D. 
Again  they  fought,  and  were  enrolled  against  Rome 
in  the  i-evolt  headed  by  Civilis. 

The  large  and  powerful  tribe  of  the  Chauci  were 
also  first  known  through  the  expedition  of  Drusus.^ 
They  lived  on  both  sides  of  the  Weser,  where  they 
were  seen  by  the  elder  Pliny ;  they  stretched  over  a 
large  territory  which,  says  Tacitus,  "they  not  only 
hold,  but  fill  (implen{)y  Huge  of  stature,  bold  of 
heart,  sound  in  morals,  they  are  praised  extravagantly 
by  Tacitus*  as  "the  noblest  race  of  the  Germans"; 
they  are  self-contained,  dignified,  justice-loving,  mo- 
lesting no  one,  always  maintaining  honorable  peace, 
but  ready  to  rise  in  arms  upon  provocation,  horse 
and  foot  in  multitudes.^     Pliny,  however,  Pliny  the 

1  Mullenhoff,  Nordalbingische  Studien,  1. 125. 

2  Zeuss,  136  ff. ;  Tacitus,  Ann.  IV.  72,  79. 

«  Zeuss,  p.  139.  Moller,  das  altenr/lische  Volksepos,  p.  86,  thinks 
that  Chauci  settled  in  Kent  and  Northumbria,  and  so  play  a  decided 
part  in  our  ancestral  history. 

*  Germ.  XXXV.  5  Vellejus  confirms  Tacitus ;  see  Zeuss,  p.  140. 


28 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


INTRODUCTION 


29 


eye-witness,  seems  to  have  received  a  very  different 
impression.     In  his  Natural  History,^  he  tells  us  that 
he  saw  them  in  their  desolate  swamps  where  ocean 
claimed  almost   as   much  right  as  the  earth  itself, 
forcing  the  miserable  inhabitants  to  seek  such  high 
places  as  can  save  them  from  the  tide.     "There  a 
wretched  race  of  men  must  seek  refuge  on  the  hil- 
locks or  in   dwellings  laboriously  raised  above   the 
highest  known  tides.     When  the  water  covers  their 
neighborhood  (at  high  tide),  they  are  like  sailors; 
when  it  recedes,  they  are  like  shipwrecked  folk.    The 
fish  going  out  with  the  tide  are  caught  close  by  the 
huts.     These  people  have  no  herds  as  their  neighbors 
have,  and  do  not  live  on  milk ;  nor  do  they  hunt  wild 
beasts.     For  fish-nets  they  braid  ropes  of  sedge  and 
swamp-grass.     For  fuel  they  use  peat.  .  .  .     They 
have  no  drink  save  rain-water  caught  in  a  trench 
about  the  houses."     Then  Pliny  adds  his  rhetoric 
and  his  compliment.     "Enamoured  of  their  barba- 
rism," he  exclaims,  "  these  men  actually  declare  that 
if  they  were  to  be  conquered  to-day  by  the  Roman 
people,  they  would  call  it  slavery  !  "     But  evidently, 
as  Zeuss  points  out,  Pliny  is  here,  quite  as  much  as 
Tacitus,  the  seeker  after  rhetorical  and  artistic  effect. 
One  wishes  to  emphasize  the  virtues  of  the  people ; 
the  other  is  bent  upon  a  completely  dreary  picture  of 
the  land  and  the  climate. 

The  Saxons,  whom  we  must  not  too  quickly  con- 
fuse with  the  great  nation  which  Charlemagne  so  for- 
cibly converted  to  Christianity  in  the  ninth  century, 
are  first  named  by  the  geographer  Ptolemy .2  He 
means  the  separate  tribe  which  afterwards  helped  so 


much  to  conquer  and  settle  England.  They  were 
not  only  pirates;  a  land-expedition  which  they  sent 
against  \he  Roman  province  provoked  the  descrip- 
tion of  them  as  "a  race  who  live  in  the  trackless 
coastlands  and  swamps  of  ocean,  and  are  terrible  for 
bravery  and  agility."  They  were  seated  at  the  foot  of 
the  peninsula  and  by  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe.  Next 
to  them  were  the  Anglians ;  the  traditions  of  this 
old  home  held  long  in  England,  and  there  seems  no 
good  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  Beda's  statements.^ 
The  Anglians  lived  in  what  is  now  Schleswig.^  The 
Jutes  lived  in  modern  Jutland  and  must  have  been 
close  neighbors  of  the  Danes. 

We  have  laid  more  stress  upon  the  Ingsevonic 
tribes  because  they  were  beyond  question  the 
founders  of  our  so-called  Anglo-Saxon  race.  In 
the  middle  parts  of  Germany,  however,  were  the 
Herminones,  Suevi,  Hermunduri,  Chatti,  and  Che- 
rusci:  out  of  these  tribes,  not  without  mixings  and 
shiftings,  emerge  the  later  Thuringians  and  Franks.^ 
Other  minor  divisions  are  given  by  Pliny  and  Tacitus. 
It  should  be  mentioned  that  philologists  have  divided 
the  Germanic  race  into  two  broad  groups,  —  the  East- 
Germanic  and  the  West-Germanic.  The  former  in- 
cludes Scandinavian  and  Gothic;  the  latter.  High 
German  and  Low  German,  —  Low  German  naturally 
covering  the  Ingsevonic  tribes. 

1  References  in  Zeuss,  p.  495  ff.  «  Mullenhoff,  Beovulfy  p.  59. 

3  Waitz  ( Verfs.  I.  14)  says  the  Franks  were  Istaevones ;  Simrock 
says  Ingaevones ;  Zeuss  (p.  80)  as  in  our  text. 


1  XVI.  1. 


2  Zeuss,  p.  150. 


30 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


CHAPTER    II 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 

The  German  in  Germany  — His  former  home  —  Inherited  and 
actual  culture  —  Country  and  climate  —  Pastures,  flocks,  and 
herds  —  Nomad  or  farmer  ?  —  Boundaries. 

In  a  district  bounded  by  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder, 
north  of  the  mountain  ranges,  and  protected  by  the 
vast  forest  of  Southern  Germany,  Germans  had  grown 
into  a  peculiar  race,  a  geiis  tantum  sui  similis,^     But 
it  is  improbable  that  they  were  original  inhabitants 
of  the  land.     Their  forefathers  must  have  broken, 
centuries  before  the  time  of  Tacitus,2  from  that  mys- 
terious East  which  has  sent  out  wave  after  wave  of 
western  conquest;  and  must  have  driven  away,  or 
possibly  enslaved,  the  primitive  tribes  which  held  the 
land.     No  legends,  no  dim  traditions  even,  seem  to 
have  survived  from  this  remote  epoch  to  tell  the  story 
of  the  conquest  or  keep  memorial  of  an  older  home.3 
Dahn,  indeed,  suggests  that  some  vague  recollection 
of  conquest  may  lurk  in  those  legends  of  a  dwarfish 
folk  which  fled  from  men  and  sought  refuge  in  the 

1  Germ.  IV. ;  Mullenhoff ,  D.  A.V.I 

CrL^^^^TuV'  '°'"°'^  '°  P^^"'  '^''  ^^'^  "^  «^rly  a«  the  entry  of 
Greeks  and  Italians  upon  their  respective  peninsulas 

SchmMt'r>r,^''''^'l^''^'r  '''  '''^  fur  Autochthouen."    Mullenhoff. 
bchmidt  s  Allgem.  Zeitschr.fiir  Geschichte,  VIII.  216. 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


31 


crevices  of  rock  and  field  and  moor,  —  in  other  words, 
an  indigenous  race,  smaller  and  darker  than  the  Ger- 
mans.^ Grimm  is  more  poetical  than  clear  when  he 
speaks  of  rumors,  still  faintly  pulsing  (nachzucken) 
among  all  Germanic  races,  of  primitive  emigration 
out  of  Asia,  rumors  that  connect  themselves  with 
the  legends  of  Alexander,  of  Priam  and  JEneas, 
and  furnish  to  mediaeval  tradition  the  origins  of 
British  tribes.^  But  this  is  extremely  uncertain. 
The  tribes  which  our  forefathers  drove  before  them 
may  have  been  such  as  the  Finns,  a  hunting  folk  low 
enough  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  who  "  had  neither 
wool,  salt,  nor  wagons  with  wheels,  and  could  not 
count  to  one  hundred."  ^ 

Where  the  Germans  parted  from  their  Aryan  kins- 
men ;  where,  moreover,  all  the  Aryan  race  once 
dwelt,  and  whence  the  various  families  set  out,  — 
these  are  questions  which  bid  fair  to  be  long  dis- 
cussed and  very  late  decided.  The  general  assump- 
tion has  pointed  to  Asiatic  origin  and  a  mainly 
westward  course  of  Aiyan  conquest;  but  against 
such  a  view  decided  protest  was  made  some  time  ago 
by  Dr.  Latham  and  Benfey,  and  lately  by  Canon 
Isaac  Taylor  and  Professor  Sayce.^     As  rivals  to  the 

1  Bausteine,  I.  285.  2  g.  D.  S.  520.  «  Hehn,  p.  18. 

^  The  isolated  German  attacks  of  Penka  and  others  became  a  gen- 
eral advance  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  1887.  In 
addition  to  the  philological  arguments,  Huxley  has  thrown  the  weight 
of  biological  research  into  the  scale  for  a  European  origin  of  the 
Aryans.  (See  Nineteenth  Century  for  November,  1890:  "The  Aryan 
Question  and  Prehistoric  Man.")  His  arguments  arrive  at  much  the 
same  conclusion  (see  p.  7G6)  as  that  reached  by  Dr.  Latham.  The  best 
book  on  the  subject  is  Dr.  Otto  Schrader's  Sprachvergleichung  und 
Ur geschichte,  now  accessible  in  an  English  translation  by  F.  B.  Jevons, 
1890.  Dr.  Schrader  collects  the  material  and  gives  a  fair  summary  of 
the  arguments  advanced  in  opposition  to  the  old  belief. 


32 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


33 


old  table-lands  of  Asia,  may  be  mentioned  the  coun- 
try north  of  the  Black  Sea,  modern  Germany  itself, 
and  Scandinavia.  Indeed  (limiting  the  question  to 
our  own  race),  in  the  older  generation  of  Germanists 
there  were  men  like  P.  A.  Munch,  the  historian  of 
Norway,  and  Wilhelm  Wackernagel,  who  believed 
that  our  ancestors  came  out  of  Scandinavia  down 
upon  the  continent  and  drove  the  Celts  before 
them. 

A  candid  critic  is  forced  to  admit  that  the  whole 
question  hangs  in  the  air,  belongs  to  a  time  quite 
beyond  the  reach  of  investigation,  and  probably  will 
never  be  settled.  If  there  is  any  drift  of  argument 
to  decide  the  matter  after  we  have  looked  at  such 
results  as  Hehn  has  given  us,  it  is  in  favor  of  Asia.i 

Easier  to  answer  is  the  question  of  inherited  cul- 
ture, brought  by  the  Germans  from  their  earliest 
home.  The  absurd  practice  long  prevailed  of  col- 
lecting all  facts  of  culture  which  could  be  found  in 
older  Sanskrit  literature,  applying  these  first  to  the 
primitive  Aryans,  and  then,  by  easy  implication,  forc- 
ing them  bodily  upon  the  early  Germans.  Victor 
Hehn  has  done  something  to  check  these  unbridled 
imaginings,  and  he  is  sustained  by  such  an  emi- 
nent philological   authority  as  Professor    Johannes 

1  A  vivid  and  plausible  sketch  of  the  Aryan  invasion  of  Europe  is 
given  by  Hehn  in  his  monograph.  Das  Salz.  p.  21  f.    Referring  to  the 

dZr  /h'  '"  ^T'''  ''^^^"  ^^'^^  *^  ^^««d  «-  ^he  character  of 
domesticated  animals  and  cultivated  plants,  Huxley,  in  the  article 

n:  ,a\  '  T''  ^^-  '''^ '  "  ^"^  ^^^°  ^^^^  argume/t  does  not  ne  es! 
sarily  take  us  beyond  the  limit  of  southeastern  Europe-  and  it  needs 

c^ralf^or  r^^^  ^^  ^'^  ^^^"^-  ^'  ''^'-^'  .^y^anH? 
not^r^'to  do  Lth  n  °  "^"'rr'  ^"  '^'  ^"""^^"^  P^^^«'  ^^'^^  ^ave 
aS  value  ^"'  ^'^''  ''^''  "^^"'^  conclusions  have 


Schmidt.^  In  the  first  place  let  us  take  the  primitive 
Aryans,  the  parent  stock  of  our  race.  What  culture 
had  they  as  common  dower  for  all  the  members  of 
the  family,  as  one  after  another  left  the  early  home  ? 
Conservative  inference  from  the  facts  of  philology 
assures  us  that  the  primitive  Aryan  was  on  a  higher 
plane  of  civilization  than  the  North  American  Indian. 
The  Aryan  was  no  longer  a  mere  hunter ;  he  knew 
horses  and  cattle,  though  the  latter  were  used  mainly 
for  the  yoke.  The  dog  was  already  domesticated; 
but,  oddly  enough,  the  cat,  most  domestic  of  animals, 
was  not  known  to  the  household  until  modern  times.^ 
The  Aryan  plucked  —  not  sheared  —  the  wool  of 
sheep  and  braided  from  it  a  sort  of  felt^  for  he  did 
not  as  yet  know  how  to  weave.  He  knew  the  use  of 
barley,  but  had  little  or  no  regular  agriculture ;  for 
the  use  of  wild  grains  can  be  assumed  where  there  is 
no  attempt  to  plant  and  cultivate.  Flesh  was  eaten, 
though  probably  the  Aryan  had  no  salt.^  Milk  was 
a  favorite,  and  butter ;  while  out  of  honey  was  made 
a  fermented  liquor,  —  mead.  Houses,  wagons,  boats, 
and  swords  were  common.  The  state  was  organized 
on  the  basis  of  the  kin,  and  there  were  some  begin- 
nings of  a  legal  system.  The  decimal  system  liad 
been  invented  for  counting,  and  time  was  reckoned 
by  the  moon,  "  the  measurer " ;  hence  the  habit  of 

1  In  his  lectures  on  Comparative  Philology,  as  well  as  in  his  special 
works.    See  also  Hehn,  Cultitrpflanzen,  p.  14  ff. 

2  Hehn,  p.  374.  Against  an  assertion  that  the  Romans  did  not  have 
the  domesticated  cat,  see  Thomas  Wriglit,  Womankind  in  Western 
Europe y  p.  18. 

8  Races  still  without  use  of  salt  are  mentioned  by  Hehn,  Das  Salz, 
p.  16.  Hehn  thinks  the  Aryans  first  found  salt  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Caspian  Sea. 


\\. 


34 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


35 


our  ancestors  to  count  by  nights  (as  in  "  fortnight ") 
rather  than  by  days. 

Above  this  stage  of  culture  we  need  not  fancy  the 
Germans  of  Tacitus  very  far  advanced ;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  must  we  picture  them  below  it.     Philol- 
ogy insists  that  the  words  brought  from  a  common 
Aryan    vocabulary   represent   things    and    thoughts 
brought  from  a  common  Aryan  life.     Moreover,  it  is 
well  worth  noting  that  the  conclusions  of  archaeolo- 
gists, especially  those  of  the  north,  make  Scandinavia 
emerge  from  the  stone  age  about  1500  b.c.  ;  place  the 
bronze  age,  with  considerable  culture  evinced  by  its 
relics,  from  that  date  until  500  B.C. ;  and  from  this 
point  date  the  iron  age.     For  the  time  of  Tacitus, 
therefore,  savagery  cannot  be  assumed  of  the  Ger- 
manic races,  unless  we  believe  that  some  great  revolu- 
tion or  invasion,  some  social  cataclysm  which  washed 
away  one  race  and  floated  in  another,  made  a  breach 
with  the  past.     It  might  be  alleged  to  suit  this  the- 
ory that  graves  of  the  later  bronze  age  do  not  contain 
so  many  or  so  fine  objects  as  the  earlier  burial-places, 
and  rarely  have  weapons  in  them.i    But  the  burning 
of  bodies,  which  came  in  about  this  time  in  place  of 
the  older  and  simpler  burial,  may  account  for  the 
change ;  and,  again,  we  have  the  hard  facts  of  phil- 
ology.     Montelius  says  that  Southern  Scandinavia 
three  thousand  years  ago  had  a  civilization  like  that 
described  in  the  Homeric  poems. 

In  the  time  of  Caesar  and  Tacitus,  Germany  was 
covered  with  dense  forests.     Pomponius  Mela,  who, 

iTea^'d  biz'!"'  """^  ^"^'^^^^^^^  ^^'  -  ^^^  -^  copper  between 


in  the  reign  of  Claudius,  wrote  a  sort  of  geography, 
tells  us  that  the  land  was  crossed  by  many  rivers, 
rough  with  many  mountains,  and  for  the  most  part 
impassable  because  of  woods  and  swamps.^     Swamp 
and  forest,  while  they  held  back  German   culture, 
made  mightily  for  German  independence.     Without 
these   vast  and  dangerous  reaches  of  woodland  and 
morass,  the  military  skill  of  Drusus  would  doubtless 
have  conquered  Germany  as  the  genius  of  Caesar  con- 
quered Gaul ;  for  Gaul  had  been  no  wilderness,  and 
in  some  branches  of  agriculture  had  given  lessons  to 
the  farmers  and  gardeners  of  Rome.     But  Germany 
was  one  vast  forest,  broken  by  swamp  or  meadow, 
with  here  and  there  a  stretch  of  open  land :  nothing 
about  it  was  likely  to  attract  an  Italian.     "  Who," 
cries  Tacitus,  "  would  leave  Asia  or  Africa  or  Italy 
to  come  to  Germany,  with  its  desert  aspect,  its  harsh 
climate,  its  lack  of  cultivation,  —  a  dreary  world!" 
The    German    swamps    are    often    mentioned,    and 
abounded   particularly  in   the  north;    what  difficul- 
ties they  made  for  the  Roman  soldier  may  be  read 
in  the  nervous  Latin  of  Tacitus.^     Quicksands  were 
plentiful    enough.      Jordanes,   the   historian   of   the 
Goths,  tells,  in  his  fourth  chapter,  a  legend  of  the 
early  wanderings  of  his  race.      They  had  come  to 
Scythia,^  drawn  by  fruitful  soil;  and  as  they  were 
crossing   a  bridge  it  broke,  and  numbers   of  them 
perished,  not  only  in  the  stream  but  in  the  tremulis 
paludibus  on  both  sides.     With   a  touch  evidently 
taken   from  old  song  about  the  tragedy,  Jordanes 
adds  that  even  in  his  time  voices  of  cattle  could  be 

1  Pomp.  Mela,  de  situ  Orbis,  III.  3.         2  For  example,  Ann.  I.  63. 
8  Probably  we  are  to  think  of  Lithuania  as  the  scene. 


V 


36 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


37 


heard  there,  and  forms  of  human  beings  could  be 
seen.  liow  swamp  and  fen  and  moor  must  have 
abounded  in  the  low  country  northwards  by  the  sea, 
the  land  of  our  Ingievonic  forefathers !  In  their 
myths  we  find  many  allusions  to  these  moors.  The 
coast-line  of  northwestern  Europe  has  changed  since 
those  days ;  where  now  is  firm  land  was  then  a  maze 
of  islands,  inlets,  and  marshes.^  The  epic  of  Beoivulf 
deals  largely  with  a  demon  of  swamp  and  seaside  ; 
and  even  if,  with  Uhland  and  Laistner,  we  regard 
this  monster  as  a  fog-demon,  he  rises  from  the  waters. 
Ingtevonic  poetry  seldom  wanders  far  from  the  scent 
of  brine  and  dash  of  waves. 

The  winters  were  keen  and  long.  True,  the  "  harsh 
climate  "  of  Tacitus  would  be  echoed  by  a  modern 
Italian  ;  but  swamp  and  forest  of  that  day  made  the 
winter  far  more  severe  than  it  is  now  :  there  was 
more  ice  and  snow,  more  fog  and  rain.  Like  land, 
like  people.  The  genius  of  Germanic  poetry  is  tragic, 
and  is  fain  to  sing  the  fall  of  empire,  such  as  the 
ruin  of  the  Burgundian  house,  or  the  collapse  of 
Theodoric's  great  kingdom.  But  back  of  the  tragedy 
lies  the  melancholy  temperament,  and  back  of  this 
the  gloomy  world  in  which  our  forefathers  dwelt. 
Their  song  echoes  to  a  homelier  note  of  sorrow,  —  to 
hunger  and  cold,  howl  of  wolf,  grinding  of  ice,  exile 
and  misery  of  friendless  men,  bitter  toil  on  a  wintry 
ocean ;  such  is  the  shadow  to  which  a  fierceness  of 
delight  in  battle  and  slaughter  makes  the  only  con- 
trast. So  far  as  Germanic  fancy  pictured  an  under- 
world of  sorrow  and  gloom,— not,  of  course,  of  pain 

iMullenhoff,  JVordalbingische  Studien,  I.  p.  117:   "Die  deutschen 
Volker  an  Nord-  und  Ostsee  in  altester  Zeit." 


or  of  punishment,  —  it  was  a  world  of  cold  and 
cheerless  watei-s  :  a  "  water-hell,"  men  have  named 
it.  In  the  Old  English  ballad  of  Thomas  the  Rymer, 
or  Thomas  of  Ercildoune,  we  hear  of  these  chill  and 
gloomy  waters.  Thomas  is  led  away  to  Elfin  Land 
by  the  Elfin  Lady :  — 

Scho  ledde  him  in  at  Eldoiiehill 

Uiidiniethe  a  derne  lee, 
Whare  it  was  dirke  als  mydnyght  myrke 

And  ever  water  till  his  knee. 

The  montenans  of  dayes  three 

He  herd  bot  swoghi/nge  ofthejiode ; 
At  the  laste,  —  etc.^ 

Scandinavian  poetry  would  yield  us  a  plenty  of 
similar  examples. 

These  swamps,  these  vast  and  sullen  forests,  made 
the  German  of  fitful  and  passionate  temper,  savage, 
inclined  to  gloom  or  to  unchecked  revelry.  The 
furor  Teutonicus  was  no  fiction.  Yet  the  German 
loved  his  forest;  and  trees  are  everywhere  near  to 
his  heart.2  The  grove  was  his  temple,  with  dark  and 
horrid  rites  that  suited  the  scene;  the  dead  were 
often  buried  under  trees,  as  in  old  Hebrew  days 
when  Rebecca's  nurse,  Deborah,  is  said  to  have  been 
buried  under  an  oak,  afterwards  called  "  the  oak  of 
weeping " ;  ^  and  the  boundaries  of  estate  or  mark 
were  designated  by  some  tree,  as  oak,  ash,  beech, 
thorn,  elder,  lime,  and  birch.*  These  sacred  trees 
long  continued   to  be   a  source   of   anxiety  to  the 

1  Thomas  of  Ercildoune,  ed.  Brandl,  p.  83  f. 

2  See  Mannhardt,  Raumkultus  der  Germanen,  which  brings  together 
a  great  mass  of  material. 

8  Genesis  xxxv.  8.  *  Kemble,  Saxons  in  England,  I.  52. 


38 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


89 


authorities  of  the  church,  and  one  was  cut  down  by 
the  apostle  of  Germany,  St.  Boniface.  Under  a  tree 
was  held  the  old  Folk-Moot,  the  primitive  court  and 
local  assembly ;  ^  and  the  Westphalian  descendant  of 
these  older  courts,  the  famous  Vehmgericht^  not  only 
held  its  sessions  under  such  a  sacred  shadow,  but 
hanged  the  victims  of  its  process  "  on  the  nearest 
convenient  tree,"  after  the  manner  of  early  Germanic 
executions.^  The  peasant  still  loves  to  plant  trees 
about  his  home,  and  in  olden  days  the  tree  itself  was 
centre  and  prop  of  the  house ;  even  in  our  prosaic 
America,^  one  can  often  tell  from  far  away  where 
the  different  farm-houses  stand,  simply  by  the  groups 
of  tall  pine  trees  that  cluster  about  each  home.  Of 
the  German  forests,  however,  we  find  here  and  there 
such  a  picturesque  periphrase  as  "  where  the  squirrel 
leaps  for  miles  from  tree  to  tree."^  The  oak  tree 
was  the  dearest;  and  it  has  held  its  royalty.  It 
gave  acorns  to  the  swine ;  and  where  game  was 
scarce  and  other  food  exhausted,  the  same  humble 
fruit  kept  life  in  man  himself.  Later  times  in- 
quire carefully  about  the  ownership  of  acorns  which 
drop  into  a  neighbor's  ground.^  Next  to  the  oak 
stood  the  beech,  and  these  two  are  "  noble  "  trees ;  ^ 
although  the  ash  often  took  high  rank  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  days.  The  ballads  preserve  traditions  of 
their  sanctity. 

1  G.  L.  Gomme,  Primitive  Folk-Moots,  passim. 

2  "  Proditores  et  transfugas  arboribus  suspend unt "    Tac.  Germ 

XII. 

8  Especially  in  New  Jersey. 

*  J.  Grimm,  Rechtsalterthumer  (henceforth,  R.  A.),  p.  497. 

5  J.  Grimm,  R.  A.  550. 

^  R.  A.50G;  Mythologie,^  p.  540  fif. 


Glasgerryon  swore  a  full  great  othej 

By  oake  arid  ashe  and  thorne  : 
"  Lady  I  was  never  in  your  chamber 

Sith  the  time  that  I  was  borne."  * 

Punishments  for  injuring  trees  were  inconceivably 
harsh ;  and  beheading  is  among  the  milder  penalties.^ 
Fallen  into  disuse  in  historic  times,  —  we  find  no 
examples  recorded  of  the  worse  punishments,  —  these 
old  laws  were,  nevertheless,  once  part  and  parcel  of 
the  system  and  were  doubtless  rigidly  enforced. 

Inhabitants  of  such  a  land  must  have  been  more 
nomadic  than  agricultural ;  but,  although  marsh  and 
forest  predominated,  Germany  was  not  without  fer- 
tile fields  and  a  rude  system  of  farming.  We  read 
in  Tacitus  of  good  farming  land  offered  as  an  induce- 
ment for  German  tribes  to  make  peace  with  Rome. 
The  proportion  of  cultivated  fields  to  pasture  and 
woodland  might  perhaps  serve  as  a  test  of  civiliza- 
tion; and  Arnold  calls  the  German  now  a  "nomad- 
farmer,"  now  a  "  farmer-nomad."  Again,  the  bronze 
sickles  and  the  hand-mills  found  in  graves  show  that 
tillage  was  known  in  Sweden  previous  to  the  fifth 
century  before  Christ.^  Caesar,  to  be  sure,  discovered 
very  little  which  testified  of  agriculture  among  the 
Germans ;  but  Tacitus  mentions  it  in  more  favorable 
terms.  The  increase  of  population  acts  on  a  nomadic 
race  as  a  stimulus  to  further  wanderings ;  but  when 
Roman  barriers  threw  the  Germans  back  upon  them- 
selves, there  was  natural  demand  for  some  steadier 
supply  of  food,  and  they  learned  to  till  the  soil.  The 
Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutes,  once  settled  in  the  fertile 


1  Child,  Ballads,2  III.  138 :  Glasgerion,  stanza  18.       2  r,  a.  518  ff. 
8  Montelius,  work  quoted,  p.  71.    See  also  Waitz,  Verfassungsges. 


1.16. 


V 


40 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


41 


fields  of  Britain,  became  as  outright  farmers  as  were 
ever  seen.  Nevertheless,  nomadic  instincts  were  very 
strong  with  the  German,  and,  on  the  Continent  at 
least,  he  put  his  chief  trust  in  flocks  and  herds.  The 
German  pastures  were  famous.  Among  the  Ingaevonic 
tribes  especially,  swine  must  have  been  raised  in  great 
numbers,  and,  though  of  an  inferior  breed,  doubtless 
were  a  prime  source  of  food.i  The  horse  was  raised 
or  hunted,  not  for  modern  reasons,  nor  yet  for  the 
milk  of  the  mares,^  but  for  its  flesh.  Like  the  oak, 
horses  had  a  sacred  association,  and  were  among  the 
noblest  offerings  that  could  be  rendered  to  the  gods. 
White  horses  were  used  for  divination,^  and  the  color 
still  remains  a  mark  of  royal  ownership.  Modern 
anthropology  is  inclined  to  associate  the  prominence 
of  the  horse  for  sacrifice  with  its  prominence  as  an 
article  of  food.*  Certainly  the  eating  of  horse  flesh 
at  feasts  and  celebrations  was  a  practice  which  the 
church  in  Germany  opposed  as  strenuously  as  pos- 
sible, and  drove  out  only  after  a  long  and  hard  strug- 
gle. About  the  year  732,  Gregory,  wisest  and  best 
of  popes,  wrote  as  follows  to  Boniface  in  Germany : 
"  Thou  hast  allowed  a  few  to  eat  the  flesh  of  wild 
horses,  and  many  to  eat  the  flesh  of  tame  ones.  From 
now  on,  holy  brother,  permit  this  on  no  account." 
Perhaps,  hints   Hehn,^  the  apostle   of   the  Germans 

1  Tacitus  does  not  mention  them.    See  Hehn,  p.  16;  Waitz,  I.  36. 

2  '•  Das  melken  der  Stuten  ist  bei  reinen  Germanen  nie  Branch 
gewesen."    Hehn,  p.  45. 

3  Tac.  Germ.  X. :  "  candidi  et  nullo  mortal!  opere  contacti." 
*  Lippert,  Culturgeschichte,  1. 160. 

5  Culturpfl.  p.  22.  The  church  also  forbade  the  eating  of  storks, 
beavers,  and  hares.  Caesar  says,  in  Britain  leporem  et  gallinam  et 
anserem  giistare  non  fas  pntant  —  8iga  of  sacred  associations.  Hehn, 
p.  272. 


had  been  thus  liberal  because  the  custom  was  known 
to  him  in  his  native  England,  while  it  seemed  but 
abomination  to  the  Italian.  The  horse  was  cared  for 
in  droves  and  was  watched  by  herdsmen.  In  the  Old 
Saxon  Heliand^  a  paraphrase  of  the  gospels  made 
early  in  the  ninth  century,  the  "  shepherds  "  of  the 
original  become  in  Germanic  rendering  ehuskalkds^ 
horse-servants,  who  were  not  watching  their  flocks 
by  night,  but  rather  were  guarding  their  horses.^ 
Down  to  the  year  1000,  horse  flesh  was  eaten  in 
Germany ;  and  in  Poland  horses  were  objects  of  the 
chase  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century.  It  must  be 
noted,  however,  that  certain  rock-pictures  of  the 
Scandinavian  bronze  age  show  the  horse  in  regular 
cavalry  combats ;  and  it  was  doubtless  used  for  rid- 
ing, not  hauling,  in  the  earliest  Germanic  times. 

Cattle  came  later  than  horses,  and  at  first  were 
used  mainly  for  the  yoke.  As  with  the  horses,  which 
were  neither  fleet  nor  handsome,  and  with  sheep, 
Tacitus  notes  in  German  cattle  an  inferior  breed ; 
and  he  points  out  the  lack  of  that  gloria  frontis^  the 
stately  horns  of  an  Italian  herd.  A  German  com- 
mentator on  Tacitus  murmurs  in  a  note  that  the 
short-horns  probably  gave  much  better  milk !  In 
the  year  225  of  our  era  enormous  herds  of  cattle 
are  reported  as  covering  Germany.  It  is  a  charac- 
teristic trait  of  nomadic  times  that  cattle  might  be 
honorably  stolen  from  a  neighboring  tribe,  provided 
it  was  done  openly, — just  as  wood  might  be  cut  and 
hauled  away  if  the  act  was  accompanied  by  noise  and 
shouting.    The  mortality  of  cattle  in  those  days  must 

1  Pointed  out  by  Vilmar  in  his  excellent  little  work,  Deutsche 
Altertumer  im  Heliand. 


i 


42 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


43 


have  been  enormous:  with  all  modern  resources,  a 
severe  winter  kills  thousands  upon  our  western  plains, 
and  it  was  infinitely  worse  with  the  Germans. 

As  in  the  case  of  oak  tree  and  of  horse,  cattle, 
which  entered  so  closely  into  the  life  of  the  Germans, 
were  connected  with  sacrifice  and  rites  of  worship. 
Kemble  ^  sees  signs  of  a  cult  of  this  sort  in  the  fact 
that  bones  of  oxen  and  cows,  as  well  as  of  horses, 
have  been  found  in  divers  Germanic  graves.  He  also 
notices  the  cows  which  drew  the  wagon  of  Nerthus, 
chief  goddess  of  the  Ingaevonic  race,  and  the  oxen 
yoked  to  the  chariot  of  the  Merovingian  kings. 
Cattle  were  of  course  supremely  important  to  the 
nomadic  Aryan.  One  thinks  of  the  great  part  played 
by  the  cow  in  Sanskrit  literature,  of  the  heavenly 
cattle,  more  or  less  frequent  in  all  Aryan  mythology, 
and  of  the  customs  which  we  can  easily  revive  for 
our  imagination  from  such  fossils  as  the  Latin  "  pecu- 
nia  "  or  the  English  "  fee.''  The  clouds,  those  fasci- 
nating objects  for  early  myth-makers  and  modern 
myth-mongers,  are  represented  as  horses,  ships,  swans, 
—  but  most  of  all  as  cows,  which  are  milked  by  In- 
dra  or  our  own  Thunar.2  There  was  a  "  holy  cow, 
first-born  of  all  things,"  in  Hindu  myths ;  and  the  cow 
remained,  for  the  whole  race,  chief  synonym  of  good. 
In  Scandinavian  cosmogony,  a  cow  appears  on  the 
scene  at  the  earliest  possible  moment ;  and  we  even 
hear  of  a  certain  Swedish  king  who  was  wont  to  take 
a  cow  with  him  into  battle.  Good  reason  for  all  this. 
Alive,  cattle  gave  milk  and  drew  loads ;  dead,  they 
were  useful  in  many  ways,  —  flesh  for  food,  skin  for 

1  HorsB  Ferales,  p.  68. 

2  So  interprets  Mannhardt,  Germanische  My  then,  p.  1  ff.  and  p.  37,  n. 


clothing,  sinews  for  bowstrings,  horns  for  cups,  bone 
for  needles  and  tools.^  Even  to-day,  proverbial  wis- 
dom insists  that  there  is  "  nothing  like  leather,"  and 
leather  is  palpably  a  weaker  avatar  of  the  holy  cow 
herself. 

Fowls  and  bees  are  not  unknown  to  nomadic  life ; 
and  they  were  common  with  our  forefathers.  Of 
fowls  we  meet  geese,  ducks,  and  chickens.  Pliny 
tells  of  the  famous  German  goose-feathers,  highly 
valued  for  bed-coverings  in  Rome,  and  fetching  enor- 
mous prices ;  though  we  are  reminded  that  such  use 
of  feathers  for  stuffing  cushions  and  pillows  was  not 
originally  Roman,  but  borrowed  from  Gaul  and  Ger- 
many.2  Geese  were  even  kept  as  pets,  and  we  have 
a  case  recorded  where  they  sympathize  audibly  with 
the  grief  of  their  mistress :  — 

Lamented  Gudrun,  Giuki's  daughter, 
so  that  tears  flowed  .  .  . 
clamor'd  answer  geese  in  courtyard, 
beautiful  fowls  the  fair  one  owned.' 

As  for  the  bee,  its  industry  did  something  more 
than  point  a  moral  for  our  ancestors  and  provide  an 
occasional  luxury.  It  furnished  them  with  fermented 
liquor ;  while  honey  itself  was  prized  far  beyond  any 
standard  of  modern  times.  This  is  true  of  nearly  all 
nomadic  races,  and  at  fii'st  concerns  only  the  wild 
honey ;  later  there  sprang  up  a  regular  bee-culture. 
In  Slavonic  lands,  we  can  trace  for  a  long  while  the 
custom  of  paying  taxes  and  tribute  in  honey ;  in  Ice- 
land, wax  was  used  for  the  same  purpose.^     The  old 

1  Hehn,  p.  14.  a  Hehu,  p.  302. 

*  Edda,  ed.  Hildebrand,  GufJriinarkvi  JSa,  1. 16. 

*  Weinhold,  Altnordisches  Leben,  p.  89. 


t 


44 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


45 


laws  were  very  strict  and  minute  in  their  treatment 
of  property  in  bees,  particularly  the  right  to  mark 
and  keep  a  tree  in  which  the  insects  have  taken  quar- 
ters, —  evidently  nomadic  jurisprudence :  ^  a  fine 
was  imposed  on  him  who  took  the  bees  from  such  a 
marked  tree,  *'  de  arbore  signato  in  silva  alterius  apes 
tulerit."  If  the  tree  had  no  mark,  no  fine  could  be 
levied.2  In  the  Anglo-Saxon  "  Rectitudines  Singula- 
rum  Personarum,"  we  find  the  functions  of  the  bee- 
churl,  hSo'CeorU  clearly  defined ;  among  others,  he  is 
to  pay  so  much  tax  in  honey.^  He  is  evidently  an 
important  personage,  and  much  in  demand.  In  that 
priceless  account  of  the  voyages  of  Ohthere  and 
Wulfstan  which  English  King  Alfred  added  to  his 
translation  of  the  History  of  the  World,  by  Orosius, 
we  have  Wulfstan's  description  of  the  Esthonians  (i.e. 
the  Old  Prussians)  as  follows  :  "  And  there  is  very 
much  honey  and  fishing ;  and  the  king  and  the  rich- 
est men  drink  mares'  milk  (the  fermented  liquor) ; 
poor  folk  and  slaves  drink  mead.  .  .  .  And  there  is 
no  ale  brewed  among  the  Esthonians,  but  there  is 
mead  a  plenty."  Alfred's  own  people  used  honey  in 
all  cases  where  later  times  employ  sugar.*  The  older 
Anglo-Saxons  drank  mead  galore  ;  their  chief  build- 
ing was  the  "  mead-hall."  Indeed,  as  late  as  the  reign 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  products  of  the  country,  as  shown  by  Domesday 

1  Grimm,  R.  A.  59G  ff.  Agricultural  races,  of  course,  raise  barley 
and  hops,  and  soon  turn  to  beer-brewing. 

2  Homeyer,  Haus  und  Hofmarken,  p.  10. 

8  Schmid,  Gesetze  der  Angelsacsehn,  p.  376.  Moreover,  we  have  the 
'•  bee-thief."  In  Alfred's  laws  (Schmid,  p.  70)  three  special  thieves  are 
named,  —of  gold,  of  horses,  and  of  bees. 

4  Cockayne,  Leechdoms,  Wortcitnning,  and  Starcra/t,  II.  p.  ix. 


Book,  consisted  in  honey,  used  chiefly  for  the  making 
of  mead.i  There  is  a  question  in  the  Demaundes 
Joyous,  printed  after  the  French  by  Wynkyn  de 
Worde  in  1511,  and  quoted  by  Kemble  in  his  Sala- 
mon  and  Saturnus :  2  "  Whiche  is  the  moost  profyta- 
ble  beest  and  that  man  eteth  leest  of  ?  — This  is  bees." 
Finally,  bees  passed  into  religion  and  superstition. 
He  that  kills  a  bee  is  the  devil's  own.  Bees  speak 
to  one  another,  and  understand  what  is  said  to  them.^ 
We  "tell  the  bees"  of  a  house-owner's  death;  and  in 
old  times  people  added  a  humble  request  that  the 
bees  would  kindly  remain  with  their  new  master.  In 
Westphalia,  they  sing  on  such  an  occasion  :  — 

Ime,  din  bar  es  dot, 
veria^tt  mi  nit  in  miner  not ! 

Bee,  thy  lord  is  dead : 
forsake  me  not  in  ray  need  ! 

When  the  bride  was  led  to  her  new  house,  a  similar 
rite  was  performed :  — 

Imen  in,  imen  ut, 

hir  es  de  junge  brut ; 

imen  iim,  imen  an, 

hir  es  de  junge  mann  : 

imekes,  verUtt  se  nit 

wenn  se  nu  mal  kinner  kritt ! 

That  is,  "  Here  is  the  bride  and  here  is  the  groom ; 
good  bees,  don't  leave  them  when  the  children  come." 
One  of  our  old  bits  of  English  poetry  is  a  charm  to 
prevent  bees  from  deserting  their  home.*     They  are 


1  T.  Wright,  Domestic  Manners,  etc.,  p.  91. 
8  Wuttke,  Deutscher  Aherrflaube,  p.  WX 
1  Grein,  Bibl.  d.  ays.  Poesie,'^  I.  319  f. 


2  p.  287. 


46 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


called  sigewif^  a  name  of  the  Valkyrias,  "victory- 
women,"  and  are  evidently  not  far  from  active  myth. 
Like  the  cow,  honey  is  a  precious  thing  among  the 
Germanic  (or  at  least,  the  Scandinavian)  gods.  It 
is  the  main  ingredient  of  their  drink ;  it  is  connected 
with  the  origin  of  poetry,  their  gift  to  men;  and 
Grimm  reminds  us  that,  in  like  manner,  Grecian 
fable  made  bees  carry  to  Pindar  —  or  any  other  con- 
venient poet  —  the  divine  gift  of  song.^ 

All  these  things  point  very  strongly  to  a  nomadic 
existence ;  but  there  was,  nevertheless,  a  certain 
amount  of  farming  practised  even  by  the  Germans 
known  to  Caesar  and  Tacitus.  We  need  not  in  our 
haste  hand  them  over  to  barbarism  or  savagery .^ 
Guizot,  in  his  Hlstoire  de  la  Civilisation  de  la  France^ 
assumes  that  our  forefathers  were  savages  outright, 
and  he  prints  along  with  the  Germania  parallel  pas- 
sages describing  American  Indians  and  other  equally 
barbarous  races.^  Aside  from  positive  evidence  to 
the  contrary,  we  may  reasonably  object  to  this  view, 
as  confounding  what  the  Germans  call  Uncultur  and 
Vorcultur,  The  former  is  the  state  of  tribes  which 
never  come  to  anything  better  than  a  raw  clanship 
and  remain  mere  hordes;  the  latter  is  the  note  of 
those  races  which  are  passing  through  the  clan-stage 
to  higher  forms  of  national  life.*  The  Germans  of 
Tacitus  are  a  developing,  ardent,  ambitious  race, 
destined  soon  to  become  a  dominant  race.  They 
undoubtedly  had  more  or  less  agriculture  ;  and  this 

1  Deutsche  Mythologies  (henceforth,  D.  M.),  p.  579. 

2  A.  Lang,  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion,  1. 222,  calls  the  society  of  the 
Germans  of  Tacitus  "a  higher  barharism,"  like  that  of  the  Scythians 
of  Herodotus. 

8  See  Waitz,  I.  32.  4  Dahn,  Bausteine,  II.  77. 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


47 


is  perhaps  the  best  standard  of  civilization,  seeing 
that  it  marks  definite  advances  from  the  merely 
nomadic  state.  Agriculture  among  the  earliest 
Germans  has  left  ample  proof  at  least  of  the  begin- 
nings of  its  existence.  In  the  first  place,  we  have 
Caesar's  account,  derived  from  his  contact  with  a 
warlike  and  aggressive  tribe.  He  says  the  Germans 
do  not  care  much  for  farming,  since  they  depend  for 
food  mainly  upon  milk,  cheese,  and  flesh  of  animals.^ 
They  have  no  individual  farms,  —  but  he  goes  on  to 
tell  how  they  cultivate  their  fields.  Moreover,  he 
tells  us  that  Germanic  tribes,  Usipites  and  Tencteri, 
crossed  the  Rhine  with  a  great  mass  of  men,  in  the 
year  33  B.C.,  driven  out  of  their  homes  by  the  Suevi, 
ivho  hindered  them  in  their  farming  (agricultura  pro- 
hibebantur^.  Again,  Caesar  tells  of  Germans  who 
went  into  Belgium  on  account  of  the  fertile  land 
there,  and  this  ''  in  ancient  times."  He  himself 
burns  the  villages  and  destroys  the  crops  of  the 
Sigambri.2  What  the  warriors  whom  Caesar  met 
would  think  and  say  of  such  a  peaceful  pursuit  as 
farming,  appeared  to  the  Italian  almost  a  denial  of 
the  fact.  Farming  was  entirely  a  matter  for  slaves 
and  women,  not  in  any  way  the  freeman's  business. 
By  the  time  of  Tacitus, — and  he  had  doubtless  better 
information  than  Caesar  could  elicit  in  the  hurry  of  a 
campaign,  —  farming  is  a  more  important  subject.^ 
The  description  given  in  tlie  twenty-sixth  chapter  of 
the  Crermania  is  unfortunately  so  brief  and  obscure  as 


1  Bell.  Gall.  VI.  22.    See  also  IV.  1.  «  B.  G.  IV.  19. 

8  Grimm,  G.  D.  S.^  16,  believes  that  the  Germans  were  mainly 
nomads  (not,  of  course,  savages)  when  they  first  appeared  in  history, 
but  admits  the  beginnings  of  agriculture. 


48 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


to  remain  one  of  the  favorite  skirmish-grounds  of  a 
work  that  furnishes  opportunity  for  battle  in  almost 
every  page.  But  whatever  the  real  method  of  Ger- 
manic agriculture  as  the  Roman  here  describes  it, 
there  is  no  doubt  at  all  about  the  fact ;  there  was  a 
respectable  amount  of  farming  carried  on  in  Germany 
when  Tacitus  wrote  his  book.  Land,  however,  was 
plentiful,  and  pastures  were  probably  much  in  excess 
of  cultivated  fields. 

Moreover,  we  have  older  evidence,  not  so  direct, 
indeed,  but  of  a  very  convincing  character.  The 
best  writers  on  Scandinavian  antiquities  find  it  prob- 
able that  in  the  later  stone  age  agriculture  was 
known  and  practised;  while  for  the  bronze  age  the 
same  assertion  is  made  with  absolute  certaint3^ 
Rock-pictures  of  that  time  show  scenes  from  the 
farmer's  life  with  plough  and  oxen;  and  grain  has 
been  found  in  the  graves.^  Not  so  sure  a  witness  is 
the  allegory  of  Germanic  myth ;  and  yet,  if  Miillen- 
hoff's  brilliant  interpretation  be  correct,  the  prelude 
of  our  own  great  epic,  Beowulf,  tells  in  mythical 
language  the  story  of  agricultural  beginnings  among 
our  far-off  ancestors  by  the  North  and  Baltic  seas.^ 
The  Anglo-Saxon  kings  boasted  descent  from  Woden, 
the  chief  divinity  of  the  Germanic  race  in  the  time 
of  Tacitus ;  but  the  genealogies  go  even  farther  back 
than  Woden.  The  remotest  ancestor  that  appears  in 
any  of  them  is  Sc^af  ;3  for  Anglo-Saxons  he  seems 
to  have  been  the  type  of  the  oldest  times,  the  most 

1  Kalund  in  Grundriss  d.  germ.  Philol  II.  2,  209  f. 

2  First  developed  in  HaupVs  Zeitschrift,  VII.  410  ff.;  then  in  the 
book  Beovulf,  printed  after  MuUenhoff's  death. 

8  Grimm,  D.  M.  III.  386.    See  also  MullenhofP,  Deovulf,  p.  (J. 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


49 


ancient  of  all  kings  and  heroes.    The  Saxon  Chronicle, 
with  the  customary  confusion  of  two  religious  systems, 
asserts  that  Sc^af  was  born  in  Noah's  ark.     An  ex- 
quisite myth  is  told  about  him,  standing  in  evident 
relation  to  those  later  romances  and  legends  about 
the  swan-knight  which  are  most  familiar  to  us  in  the 
story  of  Lohengrin.i     In  some  Scandinavian  country, 
or  possibly  in  the  old  seat  of  the  Angles  on  the  Cim- 
brian   peninsula,^   a   ship   without    oars    or    rudder 
drifted  one  day  to  land,  its  only  freight  a  new-born 
boy   lying  asleep   upon   a   sheaf  of   grain  and  sur- 
rounded with  treasure  and  weapons.     It  was  a  king- 
less  land,  and  the   folk  hailed  this  omen  joyfully, 
named  the  boy  Sc^af  (sheaf),  and  brought  him  up  to 
be  their  king.     We  shall  see   more   of  this  legend 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  Germanic  ship-burial;^ 
for  the  present  we  are  concerned  with  Miillenhoff's 
interpretation.     "If  we  look  closer  at  the  legend," 
he  tells  us,  "ship   and   sheaf   must  evidently   mean 
navigation  and  agriculture,  weapons  and  treasure  are 
as  much  as  war  and  kingship ;  and  thus  all  four  gifts 
point  to  the  chief  elements  and  foundations  of  civi- 
lization  among   the   ancient  Germans  by  the  sea." 
Miillenhoff  goes  on  with  his  deus  illefuit;  but  what- 
ever the  truth  may  be  about  Freyr  and  the  rest,  it 
certainly  seems  safe  to  believe  that  our  heathen  fore- 
fathers held  traditions  of   a  dim  past  in  which  the 
first  shadowy  figure  is  the  "  culture-hero,"  the  bene- 
factor of  his  race,  who  shows  them  how  to  till  the 

1  D.  M.  III.  391.  2  MullenhofT,  Beovulf,  p.  6. 

3  The  prelude  of  Ddowxdf  is  translated  below,  p.  324.  Sceaf  is  here 
confused  with  his  son  Scyld,  the  warlike  king,  "  Scyld  Scefing."  The 
story  certainly  relates  to  the  old  Inga;vonic  legends,  perhaps  to  Ing 
himself. 


50 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


soil.  Moreover,  the  myth  comes  from  a  neighborhood 
where  heathendom  held  stubbornly  for  long  centuries 
after  Southern  Germany  had  been  converted.  From 
all  this  various  evidence  it  seems  clear  that  the  early 
Germans  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  farmers;  they 
sowed  and  tilled  and  reaped ;  but  how  much  they 
gathered  into  barns  is  a  more  difficult  question. 

We  should  like  to  know  how  far  the  idea  of  individ- 
ual ownership  of  land  had  become  fixed,  and  how  far 
a  legal  and  executive  system  had  taken  the  place  of 
mere  paternal  or  patriarchal  jurisdiction  ;  for  farming 
means  property,  and  property  means  law.  J.  Grimm  ^ 
points  out  that  a  nomadic  race  is  naturally  most 
interested  in  public  or  common  lands,  but  farmers  in 
private  and  divided  estates.  As  we  go  back  to  the 
beginnings  of  our  institutions  and  laws,  folk-land,  as 
the  Anglo-Saxon  terms  run,  grows  more  important 
than  book-land,  —  the  mark  or  common  than  the 
farm.  Uncultivated  land  is  highly  important  to  the 
nomad;  he  looks  to  it  for  his  hunting,  his  grazing, 
and  his  bee-tracking.  For  this  reason,  we  hear  so 
much  about  the  mark.  Moreover,  land  was  very 
plentiful ;  there  was  enough  for  everybody,  as  Taci- 
tus expressly  tells  us.  It  is  likely  that  farming  tracts 
were  occupied  by  small  clans  or  families,  and  land 
was  assigned  by  lot  to  the  individuals.  We  thus 
have  farmsteads  {Einzelhofe),  scattered  about  the 
country  as  this  or  that  locality  invited  settlement.^ 
With  advancing  need  of  land  for  agriculture  came 
the  increased  power  of  single  leaders  and  princes, 

1  R.  A.  495. 

2  Germ.  XVI.:  "colunt  discreti  ac  diversi,  ut  fons,  ut  campus,  ut 
nemus  placuit." 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


51 


who  doubtless  took  up  by  conquest,  or  otherwise,  large 
tracts  of  country  and  let  them  out  to  tenants  under 
conditions  which  varied  according  to  the  time  and 
the  locality ;  the  conditions  grow  more  complicated, 
step  by  step,  until  we  come  to  mediaeval  Europe  and 
the  full-blown  feudal  system.  The  individual  owner- 
ship of  land  seems  to  have  found  earliest  and  sharp- 
est development  among  the  Anglo-Saxons;  but  on 
the  continent  it  was  not  unknown.  To  own  land 
came  to  be  the  test  of  one's  gentle  condition  ;  and 
some  writers  are  fain  to  carry  back  this  instinct  to 
the  most  primitive  times.  Waitz,  for  example,  thinks 
that  the  individual  ownership  of  land  measured  the 
amount  of  wergild^  and  formed  the  very  foundation 
of  personal  freedom.^  On  the  other  hand.  Von  Sybel 
denies  that  primitive  Germans  had  any  interest  what- 
ever in  separate  ownership  of  land.  Arnold,  in  a 
more  temperate  spirit,^  simply  decreases  the  amount 
of  private  holdings  and  increases  the  area  of  common 
land,  the  further  we  penetrate  into  the  Germanic 
past.  Permanent,  settled  ownership  came  into  full 
force,  he  thinks,  about  the  fifth  century.^ 

This  vexed  question  is  one  that  we  may  well  leave 
to  the  historian  of  our  institutions.  Philology  and 
literature,  however,  are  not  altogether  silent  on  the 
subject.  The  names  of  our  popular  fruits  and  vege- 
tables show  conclusively  their  origin  in  Italy ;  *  and 
the  same  holds  true  of  the  refinements  of  gardening 
and  the  processes  of  the  vineyard.     But  if  the  rude 

1  Work  quoted,  1. 126, 133.  2  Dentsche  Urzeit,  p.  231. 

8  There  is  much  literature  on  this  subject.  See,  among  other  books, 
Seebohm,  Primitive  Villar/e  Community,  and  D.  W.  Ross,  The  Early 
History  of  Land-Holding  among  the  Germans.  Ross  gives  a  host  of 
references.  ■*  Hehn,  p.  405. 


52 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


German  bad  no  such  arts  or  resources  as  these,  he 
nevertheless  very  early  learned  the  luxury  of  owning 
land.  The  warrior  who  served  his  king  was  rewarded 
not  only  by  the  arm-rings  of  gold  or  silver  or  bronze, 
but  by  land.  The  young  clansman  of  Beowulf, 
Wiglaf  by  name,  who  has  left  his  prince  to  struggle 
alone  against  a  dragon,  is  overwhelmed  with  shame 
when  he  thinks  of  the  benefits  the  old  king  has 
heaped  upon  him.  — 

He  minded  the  holding  his  master  had  given  him, 
stately  homestead  of  sons  of  Wsegmund, 
all  the  folk-right  his  father  had  owned,  —  ^ 

where  Professor  Scherer  interprets  folk-right  to  mean 
"share  in  the  folk-land." ^  This  is,  of  course,  open 
to  question ;  but  in  our  two  oldest  Anglo-Saxon 
poems,  both  of  them  based  on  quite  heathen  tradi- 
tions, we  have  reference  to  the  gift  of  land  to  a  person 
in  reward  for  actual  service.  Widsith,  "  the  ideal 
minstrel,"  says  that  he  was  with  a  king  of  the  Goths 
a^nd  had  from  this  monarch  a  precious  ring :  — 

,    and  this  to  Eadgils  then  I  gave, 
my  helmet-lord,  —  when  home  I  fared,  — 
to  the  lov'd  one  in  pay  for  the  land  he  gave  me, 
my  father's  heritage.  ...  * 

The  minstrels,  however,  seem  to  have  held  their 
estates  by  an  uncertain  tenure.  That  altogether 
charming  little  poem  which  worthily  heads  the  list 
of  English  lyrics,  "  The  Consolations  of  D^or,"  tells 

1  B^oio.  260G  ff. 

2  In  the  Zeitschrift  filr  oesterreichsche  Gijmnasien,  1869,  p.  89  ff. 
Professor  Kluge  also  makes  are  in  v.  2606  as  much  as  "  Besitz  "  (see 
Paul-Braune,  Beitrafje,  IX.  192),  and  so  I  have  translated  "holding," 
—  awkwardly  enough.  »  fridsiS,  92  ff. 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


63 


in  the  first  person  how  a  singer  comfort's  himself  for 
the  loss  of  his  position  as  court-minstrel.  After  enu- 
merating some  cases  of  particularly  bad  fortune  taken 
from  German  heroic  legend,  Wayland  the  Smith 
coming  first  of  all,  D^or  tells  in  the  last  stanza  all 
about  his  own  plight :  — 

Now  I  will  say  of  myself,  and  how 

I  was  singer  once  to  sons  of  Ileoden, 

dear  to  my  master,  and  Deor  was  my  name. 

Long  were  the  winters  my  lord  was  gracious 

and  happy  my  lot,  —  till  Heorrenda  now 

by  grace  of  singing  has  gained  the  land 

which  "the  haven  of  heroes"  erewhile  gave  me. 

That  past  over,  —  and  this  may  too  ! 

Lastly,  we  may  appeal  to  immemorial  custom  and 
the  poetry  of  our  old  laws.  Primitive  is  the  fasliion 
prescribed  in  oldest  Germanic  laws  for  one  who  should 
take  possession  of  a  piece  of  land.  It  was  done  by 
certain  symbolic  acts ;  one  must  break  a  branch  from 
some  tree  on  the  property,  or  set  one's  chair  in  the 
midst  of  the  field,  or  drive  a  wagon  across  it,  or 
kindle  a  fire  upon  it.^ 

In  regard  to  the  whole  question  of  nomad  or 
farmer,  it  seems  most  probable  that  the  German  of 
Tacitus  was  a  nomad  Avith  the  beginnings  of  agricul- 
ture, but  also  with  a  passion  for  warfare  that  threw 
all  his  other  tendencies  into  the  shade.  He  was  a 
warrior :  his  nomadic  traditions  and  his  agricultural 
instincts  found  no  expression  in  his  own  acts,  but 
were  left  to  slaves,  captives,  and  women,  the  old 
and  the  infirm  .2     His  farm  was  mainly  in  pastures 

1  Grimm,  R.  A.  109. 

2  Genn.  XV.:  "delegata  domus  et  penatium  et  agrorum  cura  femi- 
nis  senibusque  et  infirmissimo  cuique  ex  familia." 


\ 


54 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


LAND  AND  PEOPLE 


55 


If 


with  a  few  cultivated  fields,  in  which  he  raised 
barley,  perhaps  oats,  and  rye,  —  the  latter  in  the 
north,  —  and,  of  course,  flax  for  his  linen. 

It  makes  against  the  theory  of  mere  nomadic  life 
among  the  Germans  that  they  were  so  careful  about 
their  boundaries.  The  main  boundary  of  a  land, 
called  the  "  Mark  "  in  German,  and  in  English  "  March," 
mostly  neutral  and  uninhabited,  was  generally  a  forest ; 
at  any  rate,  the  word  meant  both  boundary  and  woods. 
Marcomanni  can  be  "  men  of  the  wood,"  or  "  men  of 
the  border."  ^  Or  the  boundary  might  be  a  moor, 
a  stretch  of  swamp,  as  would  naturally  happen  in 
North  Germany  and  in  parts  of  England.  The  lore 
of  metes  and  bounds  is  evidently  of  great  antiquity 
in  Germanic  law,  and  particularly  with  regard  to  the 
smaller  estates.  Boundaries  are  fixed  by  many  a 
curious  fashion ;  as  far  as  the  salmon  swims  up  the 
stream,  where  a  certain  shadow  falls,  as  a  bird  flies, 
or  an  egg  rolls,  or  a  hammer  is  thrown. ^  Later,  but 
still  in  primitive  times,  rude  marks,  often  of  a  sacred 
character,  were  cut  into  a  tree.^  As  in  classical  lands, 
these  border  marks  and  signs  acquired  a  sacred  char- 
acter, and  came  into  touch  with  myths.  Perforated 
stones,  which  the  ancients  seem  to  have  held  sacred,* 
served  as  sign  of  the  boundary ;  and  so  did  the  huge 
mound  which  marked  a  grave.  Nay,  the  gods  them- 
selves were  thought  to  have  laid  out  the  boundaries 
of  land  and  land ;  for  not  only  have  we  the  general 

1  J.  Grimm,  Grenzalterthumer,  Kleinere  Schriften,  II.  33. 

2  Grimm,  R.A.55;  Kl.  Schr.  II.  48  ;  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Gnmdriss 
d.  germanischen  Philologie,  II.  2,  110. 

3  "  NotsB  in  arboribus,  quas  decurias  vocant.  ..."     Homeyer,  p.  11. 
^  Grimm,  D.  M.*  976.    A  feeble  child,  people  thought,  would  gain 

strength  if  he  were  made  to  sit  in  one  of  these  holes. 


testimony  of  such  a  word  for  "god"  as  Anglo-Saxon 
metod,  measurer,  but  we  find  everywhere  bold,  irreg- 
ular lines  of  rock,  or  huge,  isolated  stones,  standing 
in  some  connection  with  the  devil,  —  behind  whom, 
remarks  Grimm,  there  lurks  an  ancient  god.  Such  a 
devil's  wall  the  modern  tourist  of  the  Harz  Mountains 
may  still  see  in  the  neighborhood  of  Blankenburg. 
The  Scandinavian  Thor  had  to  do  with  boundaries. 
Often  the  border-line  was  marked  by  a  place  of  wor- 
ship and  sacrifice ;  and  since  any  legal  punishment  in 
those  days  could  be  regarded  as  the  offering  to  an 
offended  deity,  it  is  quite  evident  why  a  criminal 
should  be  punished  "on  the  border."  Kemblei 
refers  to  the  well-known  case  in  our  Anglo-Saxon 
poem,  Juliana.  This  saint  and  martyr  is  led  "to 
the  borders  of  the  land,  to  that  place  where  the  stern 
ones  determined  in  their  hatred  to  behead  her."  2 
Other  sacred  traditions  of  the  boundary-places  are 
collected  by  Grimm  in  his  essay  on  Grenzalterthumer. 
Duels,  ordeals,  trials  by  combat,  took  place  at  the 
border,  or  on  an  island,  —  whence  was  derived  the 
Old-Norse  name  for  such  a  duel,  holmgang.  Equally 
romantic  and  far  more  peaceful  customs,  such  as 
wedding  or  betrothal,  may  also  have  been  observed 
upon  the  boundary;  certainly  it  was  custom  for  a 
prince  to  receive  his  bride  on  the  frontier  of  the 
realm,  as  witness  G-udrun :  — 

In  fair  and  noble  fashion  they  met  the  lovely  maid 
At  the  border  of  two  kingdoms.  .  .  . »   . 

Nothing,  however,  testifies  so  clearly  to  the  anxiety 
with  which  the  German  regarded  the  preservation  of 

1  Saxons,  I.  49,  note.        ^  Jul, 635.        8  Kudrun,  ed.  Bartsch,  13. 


56 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


57 


boundaries,  as  his  excessive  punishment  for  violating 
them.  The  severity  of  these  penalties  reminds  us  of 
the  laws  about  wilful  injury  done  to  a  tree ;  and 
where  the  power  of  earthly  law  was  brought  to  an 
end  by  the  death  of  the  offender,  superstition  took 
up  the  tale  and  told  of  many  a  wretch  whose  ghost 
haunted  in  this  or  that  painful  fashion  the  place  where 
he  had  done  his  evil  deed.  It  is  perhaps  not  altogether 
accidental  that  in  a  bit  of  Danish  popular  tradition 
the  punishment  for  this  offence  is  the  old  Germanic 
horror  of  cold  and  freezing.  Strande's  wife  had 
helped  her  husband  move  a  boundary-stone ;  and  now 
she  is  dead  and  haunts  the  place  each  night,  and  is 
heard  crying  pitifully  to  her  husband  —  his  punish- 
ment may  be  even  worse  —  "  O  Strande,  I'm  freez- 
ing ! "  ^  Reaching  down  into  modern  times  is  the 
custom  prescribed  for  a  new  purchaser  of  land,  for 
an  heir,  or  even  for  the  king  who  has  just  obtained 
his  throne.  From  all  of  these,  custom  demanded  a 
formal  inspection  of  bounds  and  borders  ;  as  is  so 
often  the  case,  even  comedy  and  farce  seize  at  last 
upon  a  grave  tradition,  and  we  hear  of  villagers 
whipping  their  children  at  the  border  of  the  hamlet 
in  order  that  this  important  boundary  may  be  indeli- 
bly impressed  upon  the  memory  of  future  townsmen. 
In  fine,  we  conclude  from  all  this  mass  of  boundary- 
lore  that  the  desire  to  have  and  hold  a  settled  terri- 
tory is  Germanic  instinct,  is  original,  and  needed  no 
importing. 

1  Thiele,  Danmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  126. 


CHAPTER  III 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


Stature  and  features  —  A  fair-haired  race  —  Sense  of  personal 
beauty  —  Food  and  drink  —  Habits  of  daily  life  —  Clothing  — 
Adornments. 

We  have  long  enough  discussed  the  Germanic 
type;  let  us  look  at  the  individual  German,  his  per- 
sonal appearance,  his  home,  the  habits  of  his  private 
and  public  life.  About  his  bigness  but  one  tale  is 
told,  from  Caesar,  Quintilian,  and  Tacitus,  down  to 
the  writers  of  the  dying  empire;  all  agree  that  he 
was  huge  of  stature.  To  the  small  but  wiry  Roman 
this  unspoiled  son  of  the  woods  seemed  a  veritable 
giant.  Even  as  late  as  Senlac,  the  Saxon  is  larger 
and  taller  than  the  Norman,  whose  Germanic  blood 
had  been  crossed  with  a  Gallic  strain ;  ^  and  for  the 
earlier  period,  skeletons  seven  feet  in  length  bear 
similar  witness.  The  race  seems  to  have  been  pure, 
so  that  these  bodily  traits  were  shared  by  all  its  mem- 
bers ;  2  while  the  rigors  of  life  and  climate  worked  to- 
gether for  a  very  strict  survival  of  the  fittest.  Puny 
or  undersized  children,  pronounced  weaklings,  were 

1  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,'^  III.  480,  note. 

2  Germ.  IV.  See  also  Huxley's  article,  already  quoted,  in  Nine- 
teenth Century,  November,  1890,  p.  756  £f.  The  skull  is  of  the  "  long  " 
variety. 


It 


H  t 


1  i 


68 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN   AND  WOMEN 


59 


either  treated  as  we  treat  superfluous  kittens,  or  else 
were  thrust  aside  into  the  byways  of  household  and 
menial  labor. 

The  giant  was  no  lolling,  good-natured  fellow ;  his 
huge  frame  was  easily  shaken  by  passion,  and  in  the 
hour  of  rage  or  battle,  his  blue  eyes  flashed  an  un- 
canny tire.^  Even  the  Gauls,  says  Csesar,  were  dis- 
mayed by  the  wild  glances  of  their  neighbors  across 
the  Rhine.  Hehn  is  inclined  to  think  that  this  feroc- 
ity is  inherent  in  the  glance  of  all  nomads;  but  it 
was  a  characteristic  of  the  Scandinavian  down  to  re- 
cent times,  and  was  known  among  them  as  the  snake 
in  the  eye,  —  ormr  i  auga.  Svanhild  was  daughter 
of  Gudrun  and  Sigurd,  and  had  all  the  pride  and  fire 
such  blood  should  bring.  On  a  false  charge  of  dis- 
honor, she  is  condemned  to  be  put  under  the  feet  of 
wild  horses,  that  they  may  trample  her  to  death ;  and 
it  is  done.  "  But  when  she  looked  up  at  them,  the 
horses  durst  not  tread  upon  her,  and  Bike  [Bicci, 
Sibich,  the  treacherous  counsellor  of  the  king]  had  a 
sack  drawn  over  her  eyes  .  .  .  and  so  she  ended  her 
life."^  It  was  easy  for  this  fearful  glance  to  attract  a 
superstitious  terror,  and  pass  into  the  domain  of  spells 
and  enchantments.  We  read  that  when  a  sorcerer 
was  executed  in  Norway,  it  was  customary  to  throw 
a  sack  over  his  head,  for  his  dying  glances  might 
well  be  big  with  harm.^ 

1  Truces  et  cserulei  ocuH.  —  Germ.  IX.  Plutarch  (in  Marius,  XI.) 
speaks  of  the  Cimbrian  eyes  as  *'  sky-blue."  The  blue  eye  and  fair 
or  ruddy  hair  were  admired  by  the  Hellenic  race,  and  may  have  been 
their  original  type.  Certainly  their  epithets  for  gods  and  goddesses 
bear  out  this  view. 

2  P.  E.  Miiller,  Sagahihliothek,  II.  83. 

«  Maurer,  Bekehrung  d.  norweg.  Stammes  z.  Christenthume,  II.  119. 


Huge  of  frame,  blue  of  eye,  —  often  one  may  fancy 
it  a  keen,  hard  gray,  —  the  German  rounded  out  the 
list  of  his  blond  attractions  with  golden  or  ruddy 
hair.  We  are  not  to  forget  that  he  was  a  cavalier, 
at  least  in  his  flowing  locks ;  to  be  a  roundhead  was 
to  be  a  slave.  This  long  hair  was  the  German's  con- 
spicuous feature,  for  he  used  various  means  to  heighten 
its  color,  and  we  read  of  a  Roman  army  in  Gaul  sur- 
prising certain  Germans  who  had  been  making  a  raid 
in  the  provinces  and  were  engaged  in  the  amiable 
occupation  of  hair-dyeing.  The  Roman  leader,  says 
our  chronicle,^  found  them  by  a  river,  "  some  bath- 
ing, some,  after  their  custom,  coloring  the  hair  red, 
and  many  engaged  in  riotous  drinking."  When 
Caligula  was  fain  to  make  his  Roman  subjects  believe 
that  there  were  Germans  among  the  captives  whom  he 
led  in  triumph,  he  made  certain  Gauls  dye  their  hair 
red.  Another  emperor,  Caracalla,  went  so  far  as  to 
wear  a  blond  "German"  wig;  and  it  became  fashion- 
able for  ladies  in  Rome  to  dye  their  hair  with  a  peculiar 
German  soap  imported  for  the  purpose,  —  that  from 
Batavia  was  the  favorite,  said  to  have  been  made  of 
ashes  mixed  with  goat's  fat,  —  with  which  they  ob- 
tained either  a  golden  or  a  ruddy  tint.  Still  better 
was  actual  German  hair,  —  blonde  wigs,  —  which  they 
often  affected.2 

We  have  said  that  the  German  cherished  his  flow- 
ing hair ;  it  was  his  outward  and  visible  sign  of  free- 
dom, a  precious  thing.  The  gift  of  a  lock  of  one's 
hair    was    a   symbol    of    submission.     Among    the 

1  Ammianus  Marcell.  27,  II.  2.    It  was  in  the  year  367. 

2  For  the  popularity  of  yellow  hair  in  Rome,  see  Wright,  Woman- 
kind in  Western  Europe,  p.  11. 


60 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN  AND   WOMEN 


61 


, 


Frisians,  men  who  took  oath  to  anything  touched  hair 
or  beard ;  i  and  a  story  quoted  by  Grimm  tells  how 
those  who  were  about  to  be  beheaded  took  measures 
to  save  from  stain  of  blood  their  long  golden  hair. 
Possibly  some  faint  echo  of  this  tradition  lingered 
with    Sir   Thomas  More   when   on   the   scaffold  he 
« moved  his  beard  carefully  from  the  block."     Par- 
ticularly the  kings,  the  reges  criniti  of  the  Franks, 
were  marked  by  flowing  hair ;  and  if  this  were  lost, 
with  it  went  the  fact  and  chance  of  kingship.     Paul 
the  Deacon,  in  his  history  of  the  Lombards,  tells  a 
pretty  tale  about  one  of  their  princes.    A  hostile  tribe 
had  resolved  to  put  to  death  all  the  adult  Lombards, 
and  three  of  the  princes  escape  on  fleet  horses.     A 
younger  brother,  Grimuald,  they  deem  incapable  of 
keeping  himself  so  long  in  the  saddle,  and  are  about 
to  kill  him  that  he  may  not  pass  into  slavery ;  but  as 
the  spear  is  lifted  against  him,  the  boy  begins  to 
weep,  and  crying,  "  Do  not  kill  me !     I  can  hold  my- 
self on  horseback ! "  is  spared,  and  rides  away  with 
his  brethren.     Nevertheless,  he  is  overtaken  by  a  foe- 
man  and  is  again  in  danger  of  death ;  but  his  enemy, 
impressed  by  the  noble  figure,  the  glittering  eyes,  and 
above  all  by  the  long  blond  waving  hair,  spares  him, 
and  leads  him,  still  mounted,  to  the  camp.    But  royal 
blood  is  in  the  boy's  veins.    He  chafes  at  his  disgrace  ; 
draws  a  short  sword,  "  such  as  lads  carry,"  splits  his 
captor's  head  to  the  skull,  rides  off,  and  triumphantly 
rejoins  his  brethren. ^     The  long  locks  were  sign  of 

iGrimm,  72.^.147,285. 

2  Paul  Diac,  Langoh.  IV.  37.  Paul  in  IV.  22  describes  the  old  fashion 
among  his  race  as  requiring  neck  and  back  of  head  to  be  shorn,  and 
allowing  the  hair,  parted  in  the  middle,  to  fall  over  the  cheeks  down  to 
the  mouth. 


freedom  in  woman  as  in  man.  Fri-wif  loc-hore  —  "  free 
woman  with  curly  or  flowing  hair  "  —  is  the  phrase 
applied  in  an  old  Anglo-Saxon  law.^ 

It  needs  not  to  add  that  Germanic  complexions  were 
blonde,  to  suit  the  hair  and  eyes.  The  type  is  seldom 
found  in  modern  descendants,  and  was  broken  in  Eng- 
land by  intermarriage  with  the  native  population ;  for 
while  "  the  pure  Anglo-Saxons  were  a  round-skulled, 
fair-haired,  blonde-complexioned  race,"  the  Celts  had 
"mixed  largely  in  Britain  with  one  or  more  long- 
skulled,  dark-haired,  black-eyed,  and  brown-complex- 
ioned  races,"  ^  and  our  present  Englishman  shows  the 
crossing.  In  some  parts  of  Scandinavia  and  in  Sax- 
ony one  can  still  find  the  "white  girls  and  black 
bread."  Recent  German  school-statistics  ^  of  one  of 
these  favored  localities  gave,  out  of  468,763  children, 
317,444  who  were  "blonde,"  and  136,014  who  were 
"  brown."  Andree,  however,  asserts  *  that  to-day  the 
majority  of  that  great  "white"  race,  the  Aryans, 
whose  career  of  conquest  helped  Spencer  to  draw 
the  conclusion  that  white  races  are  "habitually  the 
dominant  races  "  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  have  a 
dark  complexion ;  among  these  white  families,  "  does 
not  the  dark-haired  type,"  asks  Victor  Hehn,  "always 
conquer  the  blond?"  How  different  is  the  story  with 
our  Germanic  ancestors,  or  even  among  those  early 
races   whose   modern   representatives  are  uniformly 

1  Schmid,  Gesetze  der  Angelsachsen  (hereafter  Ags.  Ges.),  p.  8,  §  73. 
As  for  color,  compare  our  names  Fairfax  (fair-hair)  and  its  opposite 
Colfax. 

2  Grant  Allen,  A.-S.  Britain,  p.  56. 

8  See  Richard  Andree  in  the  Zst.f.  Ethnologic,  1878,  p.  343. 
4  Ibid.  p.  335  ff.    See,  moreover,  an  essay  by  the  present  author  in 
the  Uaverford  College  Studies,  1. 132  ff. 


62 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


4 


h  ■' 

I 
1 


dark!  For  in  Greece  the  gods,  Eros,  for  example 
were  represented  with  golden  hair,  just  as  in  our 
mediaeval  miracle  plays  and  mysteries  the  sacred  per- 
sonages were  always  given  golden  hair  and  beards, 
and  the  angels  wore  "gold  skins  and  wings."  In 
the  purely  Germanic  races  gold  and  white  are  the 
aristocratic  colors,  and  a  Scandinavian  legend  ^  tells 
how  god  Heimdall,  "  whitest  of  the  ^sir,"  wandering 
the  green  ways  of  earth  under  the  name  of  Rigr, 
begets  in  succession  Thrall  and  Karl  (Churl)  and 
Jarl  (Earl).  Thrall's  complexion  was  black,  and  he 
was  straightway  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer  of 
water,  worked  afield,  fed  swine,  dug  peat.  Karl  the 
freeman  tamed  oxen,  raised  crops,  made  ploughs, 
built  houses  and  barns  and  wagons.  One  of  his 
sons  is  named  Smith,  or  the  artisan;  and  he  and  all 
his  breed  are  of  a  ruddy  hue,  and  are  like  their 
favorite  god,  plain  old  Thor.  Highest  of  all  was 
Jarl ;  when  he  was  born  he  was  "  swaddled  in  silk," 
"  his  hair  was  yellow,^  his  cheeks  were  rosy,  his  eyes 
were  keen  as  a  young  serpent's";  and  as  his  com- 
plexion, so  also  his  callings  were  of  another  color 
than  Karl's  or  Thrall's.  He  learned  to  brandish  the 
shield,  to  wind  the  bowstring,  to  span  the  elm-bow, 
to  fit  the  arrow,  to  hurl  lance  and  spear,  to  egg  on 
the  hound  and  tame  the  stallion,  to  swing  the  sword, 
and  swim  through  the  sea.      To  match  this  aristo- 

1  Rigsmdl :  Edda,  ed.  Hildebrand.  112  ff.  Simrock's  Edda,  p.  Ill  ff. 
Vigfusson  and  Powell,  Corpus  Poeticum  Boreale  (hereafter  C.  P.  B.), 
1,  2S4ff. 

2  Meyer,  Alt  germ.  Poesie,  p.  200,  without  special  references,  says  that 
the  typical  Germanic  hero's  hair  is  not  "blonde"  but  "braunlich." 
The  " jugendkrjiftige  Mann"  whom  we  have  met  in  description  of 
Germanic  heroes,  is  certainly  "  blonde." 


MEN   AND  WOMEN 


63 


cratic  type  of  earth,  we  find  Balder,  darling  of  the 
gods,  "  so  fair  to  look  upon  that  light  streams  from 
him,  and  the  whitest  of  all  flowers  [or  grasses]  is 
likened  to  his  eyelashes."  ^  So  the  tradition  passes 
down  into  the  ballads ;  and  what  reader  of  these 
abstracts  and  brief  chronicles  of  old  time  does  not 
remember  how  all  the  knights  and  all  the  ladies 
have  fair  skin  and  yellow  hair?  Even  Robin  Hood 
has  "a  milk-white  side."  Churlish  dispositions  crop 
out  in  the  dusky  color  of  face  or  eyes  or  locks ;  in 
some  versions  of  The  Ttva  Sisters^  "the  younger  sis- 
ter is  fair,  and  the  older  dark"  to  suit  their  char- 
acters :  2  — 

Ye  was  fair,  and  I  was  din  (dun). 

Dark  complexion  is  a  badge  of  low  birth,  and  then 
comes  to  be  the  note  of  undesirableness  in  English 
feminine  beauty.  Again  and  again  Shakspere  re- 
turns to  this  theme  in  his  sonnets  about  the  "dark 
lady,"^  that  "woman  colour'd  ill,"  with  "mourning 

eyes  " :  — 

In  the  old  age  black  was  not  counted  fair, 

Or  if  it  were,  it  bore  not  beauty's  name.  .  .  . 

Tn  a  Scandinavian  saga,  twins  of  a  dark  complexion 
are  born  to  a  certain  queen,  but  her  husband  calls 
them  "  hell-skins  "  and  refuses  to  own  them.*  It  is 
prejudice  of  race,  this  passion  for  the  blonde,  —  at 
least  in  modern  times ;  and  we  find  the  Arabian  prov- 
erb just  as  scornful  of  fairness  as  the  German  could 

1  Prose  Edda,  Gylfaginninrj,  XXII.  2  child,  Ballads,2  1. 120. 

8  See,  especially,  Sonnets  127,  130,  131, 132,  137,  141,  147,  150,  152. 

^  Here  we  meet  not  only  a  touch  of  theolo^,  but  also  that  absurd 
old  notion,  brought  out  —  amon<:  many  other  instances  —  in  our  English 
romance  of  Octavian,  that  of  twins  one  child  must  be  illegitimate. 


64 


GERMANIC  ORIGIXS 


h 


be  of  the  brunette :  "  Ruddy  of  moustachio,  blue  of 
eye,  and  black  of  heart,"  which  matches  a  phrase  in 
our  old  friend  the  Arabian  Nights :  "  Blue  of  eye  and 
foul  of  face."^  An  international  summary  of  the 
whole  matter  may  be  found  in  a  proverb  quoted 
by  Uhland:^  "Beware  of  a  black  German,  a  white 
Italian,  a  red  Spaniard,  and  a  Dutchman  —  of  any 
color ! "  It  would  seem  to  run  counter  to  this  doc- 
trine that  we  find  in  all  Germanic  nations,  from  about 
the  year  1000  of  our  era,  a  decided  prejudice  against 
red  hair.  The  so-called  proverbs  of  Alfred  affirm 
the  red  man  to  be  a  rogue  ;  while 

Alder-wood  and  red  hair 
on  good  soil  are  rare, 

is  a  proverb  found  in  nearly  every  Germanic  dialect.^ 
To  explain  this  we  need  not  drag  in  honest  old 
Thor  by  his  red  beard, — not  even  red-haired  Loki, — 
nor  appeal  to  the  pictures  of  Judas  Iscariot.  It  is 
the  red  which  verges  upon  black,  the  dusky  color 
that  is  meant,  like  those  dull  flames  of  hell  which 
make  darkness  visible.  The  light,  ruddy  color,  the 
golden  red,  has  always  a  noble  and  gallant  connota- 
tion ;  of  such  complexion  and  such  hair  was  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Barbarossa,  or  the  West-Goth  Theodoric 
II.,  who  is  described  by  Sidonius  Apollinaris  as  hav- 
ing long  and  curly  hair,  snow-white  teeth,  and  a  skin 
colored  like  milk  and  flushed  with  manly  red,  —  evi- 
dently a  pattern  of  kings  and  Germans.*    It  is  not  all 

1  Transl.  Sir  R.  Burton,  IV.  192,  and  note. 

2  Kleinere  Schriften,  IV.  45. 

3  R.  Andree,  work  quoted,  p.  335  ff.  All  witches  are  red-haired ; 
trolls  and  nixies  tend  the  same  way.  See  sufficient  evidence  in  Roch- 
holz,  Deutscher  Glauhe  und  Branch,  II.  223  f. 

4  Rochholz,  work  quoted,  II.  222. 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


65 


rhetoric,  again,  when  Sidonius,  describing  the  wed- 
ding of  a  young  Frankish  prince,  arrays  him  in  glit- 
ter of  gold,  in  flame  of  scarlet,  in  sheen  of  whitest 
silk,  —  but  assures  us  that  all  these  were  easily  peered 
by  the  gold  of  the  flowing  locks,  and  by  the  fairness 
and  flush  of  the  complexion.^  Add  to  these  florid 
graces  the  power  to  hold  us  by  his  glittering  eye,  and 
we  have  a  kinsman  of  whom  we  need  not  be  ashamed. 
Even  after  we  have  stript  the  rhetoric  from  the  de- 
scription, and  the  robes  of  civilization  from  the 
prince,  after  we  have  put  him  into  a  simple  dress  of 
skins,  and  a  bit  of  linen,  and  thrust  him  back  into  his 
forest,  there  still  remains  a  huge,  keen-eyed,  florid, 
yellow-haired  person,  impetuous,  melancholy,  cruel, 
passionate,  fitful,  with  dreams  of  conquest,  with  long- 
ings dull  and  indefinite,  with  a  contempt  for  civili- 
zation, and  an  eagerness  to  touch  and  keep  some  of 
its  nobler  elements,  —  a  person,  in  short,  whom  no 
amount  of  ethnology  is  going  to  put  on  a  par  with 
the  modern  African  savage. 

How  far  the  sense  of  personal  beauty  was  devel- 
oped, how  far  his  "lassie  wi'  the  lint-white  locks" 
bewitched  a  Germanic  youth  with  something  higher 
than  mere  physical  attraction,  is  a  question  not  easy 
to  answer.  We  must  not  inject  too  liberal  a  measure 
of  romance  into  that  old  courtship ;  but  yet  there  was 
surely  something  of  the  grace  of  love  even  in  Ger- 
manic forests.   Late  as  the  myth  may  be,  we  feel  sure 

1  In  the  ballad  Willie  o*  Winsbury,  Child,2  jy.  399,  we  have  a  fine 
match  for  the  older  figure :  — 

••  But  when  he  came  the  king  before, 
He  was  clad  o'  the  red  silk, 
His  hair  was  like  to  threeds  o'  gold, 
And  his  skin  was  as  white  as  milk." 


f  * 


66 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


that  when  the  Scandinavian  god  falls  into  utter  love- 
madness  for  his  longing  after  Gerthr,  whose  "  white 
arms  lightened  all  the  sea  and  land,"  this  was  no 
new  viking  invention,  ])ut  had  its  prototype  in  the 
passion  of  many  an  early  warrior.  BSowulf  and 
the  epic  fragments  show  in  their  phrases  a  monkish 
abstinence  when  speaking  of  women:  "gold-adorned," 
"fair-haired,"  "white,"  "fair,"  are  the  traditional 
epithets.  There  is  more  sense  for  manly  beauty 
than  for  that  of  woman.  In  the  one  simile  applied 
to  woman,  which  is  found  in  our  wreckage  of  Ger- 
manic poetry,  she  is  compared  with  the  sunbeam.^ 

Un romantic  but  useful  is  the  query  what  this  glit- 
tering and  florid  person  had  to  eat.  For  in  spite  of 
his  gigantic  frame,  he  lacked  endurance,  —  not  so 
much  the  natural  quality  as  that  which  is  born  of  dis- 
cipline, systematic  campaigns,  and  regular  supplies. 
That  he  could  bear  cold  better  than  heat,  hunger 
better  than  thirst,  is  natural  criticism  for  an  Italian ;  ^ 
and  Plutarch  notes  the  advantage  enjoyed  in  this 
respect  by  the  Romans  in  their  fight  with  Cimbrians 
at  Vercellse.  No  doubt,  however,  the  uncertain 
amount  and  kind  of  food  helped  to  make  the  Ger- 
mans less  patient  of  fatigue.  Often  the  larder  must 
have  been  bare,  often  filled  to  excess.  Their  feasts, 
says  Tacitus,  while  not  of  great  variety  and  exquisite, 
are  yet  abundant ;  ^  —  and  this  is  concession  from  a 
Roman  of  the  empire.  They  ate  the  flesh  of  wild  or 
half-tamed  horses  and  of  swine,  with  other  kinds  of 
game,  mostly  fresh,  —  recensfera,  says  Tacitus,* — but 
doubtless  often  dried  or  salted.     Caesar  seems  to  have 


1  Meyer,  Altgerm.  Poesie,  p.  112  f. 
3  Ibid.  XIV. 


2  Germ.  IV. 
4  Ibid.  XXIII. 


MEN   AND   WOMEN 


67 


believed  a  decidedly  indigestible  story  about  the  habits 
of  a  German  elk  and  the  popular  mode  of  snaring  it. 
He  says  ^  that  it  does  not  lie  down,  nor  can  it  rise  if 
it  has  fallen  ;  but  it  takes  its  rest  by  leaning  against 
a  tree.  The  hunter  has  simply  to  cut  nearly  through 
such  a  tree  and  leave  it  standing  apparently  in  its 
usual  case ;  the  elk  leans  against  it,  overturns  it,  and 
falls  with  it  to  the  ground. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  these  statements  about 
the  German  larder  point  to  nomadic  life  and  tend  to 
confirm  the  view  of  Jacob  Grimm,  who  saw  "  nomad  " 
writ  very  large  over  primitive  Germany.  But  it  is 
going  too  far  to  seize  upon  an  assertion  of  Pomponius 
Mela  to  the  effect  that  our  forefathers  ate  raw  meat,^ 
and  hastily  assign  them  to  outright  savagery.  For 
they  had  milk,  and  probably  butter  and  cheese ;  ^  as 
time  went  on,  they  used  more  and  more  meal,  whether 
baked  in  bread  or  eaten  in  a  thick  broth.  In  the  ear- 
liest times  they  had  nothing  save  wild  fruits,  apples, 
of  an  ignoble  sort,  one  may  think,  and  berries.  All 
our  modern  fruits  and  vegetables  came  from  Italy, 
and  brought  their  foreign  names  along  with  them. 
Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  already  named  as  the  earliest 
visitor  to  our  shores  who  came  from  classic  land,  said 
that  German  tribes  by  the  North  Sea  had  hardly 
any  garden  produce  or  domestic  animals  such  as  the 
Greek  knew,  but  that  they  lived  on  millet  and  other 
plants,  on  roots  and  berries.*  Perhaps  the  earliest 
vegetable  which  the  Germans  imported  from  their 

1  B,  G.  VI.  27. 

2  "  Victu  ita  asperi  incultique  ut  cruda  etiam  came  vescantur." 
Pomp.  Mela,  III.  3. 

^  Lac  concretum,  says  Germ.  XXIII.,  which  may  mean  these,  or 
simply  thickened  milk.  ^  Hehn,  p.  122. 


68 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN   AND   WOMEN 


69 


neighbors  in  Gaul  was  the  leek,  a  plant,  it  would 
seem,  of  decidedly  magical  qualities.  Thrown  into 
one's  mead,  it  was  a  safeguard  against  treachery ;  ^ 
and  for  whatever  reason,  when  the  great  Helgi  is 
born,  his  father  comes  back  from  battle  with  "a 
noble  leek"  for  gift.^  Even  among  the  Anglo-Saxons 
there  were  few  vegetables,  and  chief  of  these  was  the 
leek;  a  garden  is  called  outright  "leek-enclosure," 
leac-tun,  and  the  gardener  is  "  leek-ward."  ^  A  Dan- 
ish ballad  quoted  by  Professor  Child  *  speaks  of  the 
happy  land  where  all  birds  are  cuckoos,  all  the  grass 
is  leeks,  and  all  the  streams  run  wine.  There  were, 
however,  other  Germanic  vegetables.  There  was 
asparagus,  or  something  very  much  like  it;  the 
radish,  of  extremely  large  size  ;  and  sweet  turnips 
that  were  good  enough  to  be  imported  for  the  ex- 
press use  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius.^ 

Saxons  and  Frisians  by  the^sea  ate  fish;  and  of 
course  the  Scandinavians  did  likewise.  Montelius 
cites  King  Sigurd  Syr,  stepfather  of  St.  Olaf,  who 
gave  his  guests  fish  and  milk  one  day,  and  meat  and 
ale  the  next.  In  a  lay  of  the  Edda,  old  Thor,  who 
represented  the  homely  life  of  days  before  the  vikings 
were  in  vogue,  says  that  he  has  been  eating  "  herring 
and  oatmeal  porridge."  ^     Salt  was  valued  highly,  not 

"^  Sigrdrifumal,  8:  "Throw  leek  in  the  drink,  then  I  am  sure  thy 
mead  will  never  be  mixed  with  treacherous  poison."  Hildebrand, 
Edda,  p.  205. 

2  Helgakv.  Hundingsh.  7,  Edda,  Hildebrand,  p.  151. 

3"Holitor  (for  Olitor)  leacweard,"  Wright-Wulker,  ^ngr^o-Saxou 
Glosses,  416,  30.    See  also  Wright,  Domestic  Manners,  etc.,  p.  294. 

4  Ballads,2  I.  89. 

5  See  references  in  Wackernagel,  Kleinere  Schriften,  I.  23. 

6  Hdrbdrtisliod,  3,  7.  Hafra  is  not  certain  in  meaning.  Vigfusson 
and  Powell  translate  "  goat-venison  "  instead  of  oatmeal. 


only  as  the  best  of  all  seasonings,  but  also  for  its  anti- 
septic qualities.  It  kept  the  hunter's  game,  the  coast- 
folk's  fish.  In  Anglo-Saxon  larders,  salt  meat  was 
very  prominent,  and  hence,  as  Wright  reminds  us, 
arose  the  custom  of  boiling  nearly  all  flesh  that  was 
eaten.^  The  Germans  themselves  seem  to  have  had 
no  skill  in  the  preparation  of  salt,  an  art  first  devel- 
oped by  the  Celts ;  but  Germany  was  especially  rich 
in  salt-springs,  and  these  were  the  cause  of  many  a 
desperate  fight  between  neighbor  tribes  struggling 
for  possession.  Pliny  and  Tacitus  testify  to  the  ex- 
tremely rude  fashion  of  salt-making  among  the  Ger- 
mans. It  seems  that  they  piled  up  logs  in  the 
neighborhood  of  such  a  spring,  set  them  on  fire,  and 
then  quenched  the  flames  by  liberal  application  of 
the  salt  water.  When  the  fire  was  out,  a  crust  of 
salt  was  found  clinging  to  the  embers. 

Once  more  we  see  the  close  connection  between  a 
necessary  or  favorite  article  of  food  and  the  cere- 
monies of  primitive  religion.  The  salt-springs  were 
places  of  worship,  and  a  story  told  by  Tacitus  about 
the  desperate  war  waged  between  Chatti  and  Her- 
munduri  for  the  ownership  of  such  a  prize  is  of 
interest  in  many  ways.^  The  Germans,  we  are 
assured,  held  the  place  holy,  deemed  it  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  heaven,  and  believed  that 
prayers  nowhere  else  were  wafted  so  quickly  to  the 
gods,  —  gods  by  whose  grace  it  came  about  that  salt 
was  formed  whenever  the  waters  of  the  spring  were 
poured  upon  a  heap  of  burning  logs.  In  the  time  of 
Emperor  Julian,  several  hundred  years  later,  we  find 

1  Domestic  Manners  and  Sentiments,  p.  26. 

2  Tac.  Ann.  XIII.  57. 


I  *■   -.' 


TO 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


IVIEN  AND  WOMEN 


71 


r 


P 


II 


Alamannians  and  Burgundians  fighting  for  the  same 
sort  of  treasure.!  jn  short,  salt  and  its  not  particu- 
larly congruent  rival,  honey,  were  the  main  condi- 
ments of  the  primitive  German. 

How  far  more  rich  was    the  store   of   an   Anglo- 
Saxon  franklin !     Even  a  modern  epicure  might  not 
be  displeased  with  such  a  larder  as  Cockayne  2  has 
discovered.     The   Germans   who  conquered   Britain 
did  not  "stuff  their  bellies  with  acorns,"  maintains 
this  lively  editor ;   and  the  Saxon  descendant  knew 
well  how  to  live,  as  witness  a  bewildering  array  of 
flesh  and  fish,  with  such  side-lights  as  "oyster  patties" 
and  "junkets,"  and  minor  meats  galore.     We  have 
testimony,  a  little  later,  about  the  boy's  ordinary  fare 
in  an  Anglo-Saxon  monastery, —  "  worts  and  eggs, 
fish   and   cheese,   butter   and   beans,   and    all   clean 
things."     Flesh  he  rarely  got.^    But  we  cannot  argue 
back  from  all  this  into  the  German  forests.     Only 
what  seems  sanctioned  by  an  old  tradition,  or  has 
come  in  touch  with  cult,  has  any  value  of  this  sort. 
For  example,  cheese  enters  into  cult ;  even  in  modern 
times  it  was  thrown  into  a  sacred  well  in  Scotland, 
hence  called  Cheesewell,  by  way  of  propitiation  and 
offering.^     Frisians  and  Anglo-Saxons  had  an  ordeal 
called  the  corsnced,  in  which  a  bit  of  bread  and  cheese 
was  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  accused ;  if  he  swal- 
lowed it,   good ;   if   he   was    choked,    it  was  a  sign 
of  guilt.^    As   for  milk,  we  have   the   sacred   cow 

1  Hehn,  Das  Salz,  31 ;  Amm.  Marc.  28.  5. 

2  See  bis  Leechdoms,  ii.,  vii.  ff. 

8  Colloquy  of  ^Ifric,  in  Wright-Wulker,  Glosses,  p.  102. 

4  Liebrecht,  Otia  Tmperialia,  p.  10. 

5  R.  A.  931  f .  Rocbholz,  Deiitscher  Glauhe  und  Branch,  p.  12  ff.,  gives 
a  number  of  cases  wben  cheese  or  milk  formed  the  staple  of  a  myth, 
and  hence  belonged  to  the  tradition  of  cult. 


already  noted,  or  the  goat  which  in  later  Valhalla 
belief  feeds  upon  the  branches  of  the  World- Ash  and 
gives  the  milk  of  immortality  to  heroes  of  Odin. 
Here,  too,  belongs  butter.  Hehn  draws  a  geographi- 
cal line  between  the  realm  of  "  beer  and  butter  "  and 
the  realm  of  wine  and  oil.  According  to  Pliny's 
Natural  History,^  the  Germans  "made  out  of  milk 
an  article  called  butter,  noblest  food  among  barbar- 
ous races  and  one  which  sundered  rich  from  poor." 
Butter  was  even  used  as  a  sort  of  ointment,  northern 
pendant  to  the  oil  of  southern  lands.  Milk  and  its 
products  were  of  supreme  importance  to  the  nomad ; 
no  wonder  that  Scandinavian  goat,  German  cow,  and 
Slavonic  mare  should  loom  out  of  the  past  in  such 
heroic  proportions.  With  the  herd  there  must  be  a 
dog,  and  very  properly  we  find  a  magnified  and  non- 
natural  dog  barking  fearfully  as  herald  of  Ragnarok, 
the  end  of  all  things,  in  a  late  Scandinavian  myth.^ 
The  tradition  of  nomadic  times  pure  and  simple  would 
seem  to  be  preserved  in  Be  da's  explanation  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  name  for  the  month  of  May,  —  "  Three- 
Milk-Month  " ;  that  is,  says  Beda,  the  month  when 
the  cows  (^pecora)  used  to  be  milked  three  times  a 
day :  "  So  great  was  the  abundance  which  once 
reigned  in  Britain  and  Germany."  ^ 

With  butter,  as  soon  as  any  of  the  necessary  grain 
can  be  raised,  is  ranged  beer,  which  gradually  takes 
the  place  of  mead,  the  original  Aryan  beverage.  On 
the  subject  of  beer  Hehn  lavishes  his  learning  with  a 

1  XXVIII.  133;  Hehn,  Culturpfl.  p.  132. 

2  The  Cimbrians  had  watch-dogs  with  them  in  Italy. 

8  "Talis  enim  erat  quondam  ubertas  Britanniae  vel  Germanise." 
See  also  Grimm,  G.  D.  S.^  66  f.  The  extract  is  from  Beda  de  temporum 
ratione,  Cap.  XIII. 


72 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN   AND   WOMEN 


73 


fond  indulgence.  Beer,  as  he  tells  us,^  once  held 
far  wider  sway  than  now ;  Egypt  knew  it,  and  Spain, 
and  many  a  land  which  later  bore  only  the  olive  and 
the  grape.  Pytheas  of  Marseilles  found  our  ances- 
tors drinking  mead  and  beer ;  while  among  the  Celts 
of  Gaul  beer  Avas  the  common  drink,  and  only  the 
rich  and  great  used  wine.  This  was  the  case  in 
England,  and  for  even  better  reasons.  In  the  col- 
loquy just  quoted,  the  master  asks  our  monastery-boy 
what  he  drinks.  "  Ale  [beer]  if  I  have  it,  or  water 
if  I  have  no  ale."  "Don't  you  drink  wine?"  "I 
am  not  so  rich  as  to  buy  me  wine ;  and  wine  is  not  a 
drink  for  children  or  fools,  but  for  old  and  wise 
people."  The  Emperor  Julian  made  a  satiric  epigram 
in  Greek  on  this  custom  of  drinking  beer,  which  in 
his  day  was  so  common  with  Gauls  and  Belgians .^ 
For  Germans,  Tacitus  bears  ample  testimony ;  but 
inasmuch  as  beer  is  inseparable  from  agriculture,  we 
may  argue  not  only  that  our  ancestors  of  that  time 
had  taken  some  steps  above  the  nomadic  state,  but 
also  that  beer  could  not  have  been  their  original 
drink.3  In  earliest  times  mead  ruled  alone.  Grimm 
sees  in  the  name  of  the  English  river  Medway  a  trace 
of  the  nomadic  beverage ;  Medway  would  be  "  mead- 
cup,"  and  there  would  be  the  mythical  and  classical 
whim  of  a  stream  "  flowing  from  the  horn  or  urn  of  a 
river  god."*  Certain  is  the  name  of  an  Anglo-Saxon 
banquet-room ;  it  is  a  "  mead-hall,"  medo-cern^  where, 

1  Cultnrpfl.  p.  117  ff. 

2  Cider  also  was  used  by  the  Gauls.    Amm.  Marc.  XV.  12,  4. 

8  There  are  traces  of  mead-drinking  in  Greece  previous  to  the  epoch 
of  wine.  Hehn  approves  the  etymology  of  hier  from  bibere,  and  ale 
from  oleum ;  neither  word  nor  thing  original.  Culturpfl.  p.  125.  Others 
assail  the  etymology,  and  claim  native  origin.  *  G.  D.  S.^  457. 


( 


however,  beer-drinking,  beor-pegu,  goes  on,  and  the 
ale-cup,  ealo-ivmge,  makes  its  round.     Wine,  of  course, 
came  later  to  the  Germans,  and  in  the  time  of  Tacitus 
was  bought  now  and  then  from  Roman  merchants  on 
the  border,  —  no  national  drink.i     Its  origin  is  prob- 
ably Semitic.     We  owe  this  race,  along  with  the  art 
of  crushing  from  grapes  the  sweet  poison  of  misused 
wine,  the  nobler  gifts  of  measuring,   of  money,  of 
the  alphabet,  and  of  what  Hehn  calls  the  profound 
abstraction,  Monotheism,^  —  a  heavy  balance  in  favor 
of  the  Orient !    But  let  us  return  to  our  beer.    Csesar 
does  not  mention  it,  nor  Pliny ;  it  was  in  its  begin- 
nings, like  the  parent  art  of  agriculture ;  but  Tacitus 
speaks   very  distinctly,   and    opens   his   twenty-third 
"  chapter  "  as  follows :  "  For  drink  they  have  a  liquor 
brought  into  some  resemblance  to  wine  by  process  of 
fermentation  ^  from  barley  or  wheat."  *     He  gives  no 
name  for  this  liquor,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  beer ;  and 
the  trick  of  making  it  must  have  been  learned  from 
the  Celts  of  the  lower  Rhine  and  the  Danube.^     But 
it  was  not  by  any  means  modern  beer,  and  Hehn 
warns  the  enthusiastic  German  youth  not  to  fancy 
his  remote  ancestor  indulging  in  such  a  beverage  as 
the  Fatherland  boasts  to-day ;    for  hops,  a  most  im- 
portant element,  were  not  used  in  breweries  until  the 
Middle  Ages.     Naturally  we  find  beer  in  ceremonies 
of  Germanic  religion.      St.  Columbanus,  about  the 
year  600,  surprised  a  group  of  Suevi  who  were  sit- 

1  It  was  prohibited  as  imported  ware  among  the  Suevi,  because  it 
made  men  soft  and  effeminate.    Caesar  B.  O.  IV.  2. 

2  Culturpfl.  p.  64. 

8  In  the  original,  one  word,  corruptus,  over  which  there  has  been 
much  throwing  about  of  brains. 

^  Frumento  :  wheat,  or  rye  ?  6  Hehn,  124. 


74 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


ting  around  a  huge  keg  or  vat  ^  of  beer,  which  they 
intended  to  offer  to  their  god  Woden ;  and  later,  as 
a  more  indirect  sacrifice,  we  hear  of  tithes  paid  to 
the  church  in  beer. 

How  much  did  the  Germans  drink  ?  This  parlous 
question  is  sufficiently  answered  by  Tacitus.  The 
German  meals,  he  says,  are  frugal,  but  with  regard 
to  thirst,  there  is  not  the  same  temperance ;  and  it 
is  evident  that  these  barbaric  potations  dismayed  the 
moderate  Roman.  Much  in  the  fashion  of  our  famil- 
iar laments  over  the  weakness  of  the  Red  Man,  Taci- 
tus bewails  as  a  moralist  and  exults  as  a  Roman  that 
this  German  "  is  conquered  as  easily  by  his  own  vices 
as  by  foreign  arms."  But  even  immoderate  drinking 
has  its  amenities  ;  and  civilization  has  witnessed  as 
much  excess  as  barbarism  itself.  How  far  the  re- 
finements which  we  easily  see  in  the  banquets  of  later 
Germanic  races  —  those,  for  example,  described  in 
BSowulf — may  be  assumed  for  earlier  times,  is  a 
matter  of  doubt.  We  find  certain  courtesies  of 
feasting  prescribed  by  law  for  the  Anglo-Saxons.  A 
Kentish  law  of  the  seventh  century  ordains  that  if 
any  one  shall  take  away  another's  stoup  (^steap)  or 
cup  where  men  are  peaceably  drinking,  let  him  pay 
accordifig  to  the  old  law  one  shilling  to  the  owner  of 
the  house,  six  shillings  to  the  offended  person,  and 
twelve  shillings  to  the  king.2  As  Schmid  points  out, 
to  remove  a  man's  drinking-cup  was  a  palpable  insult, 
and  would  easily  precipitate  a  quarrel  among  men 
who  were  wont  to  plead  guilty  to  any  charge  sooner 
than  to  that  of  being  pigeon-livered.     The  next  laws 


1  "  Vasque  magnum  quod  vulgo  ciipam  vocant."     See  D.  M.*  45. 

2  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  p.  12,  §§  12, 13,  14. 


MEN   AND   WOMEN 


75 


impose  a  fine  of  one  shilling,  paid  to  the  owner  of  a 
house   where    people    are    drinking,   upon   him  who 
draws  his  arms  in  such  a  company,  and  twelve  shil- 
lings to  the  king ;  and  if  the  house  (flet,  really  the 
floor)  be  stained  with  blood,  one  must  pay  to  the  man 
liis  mundhyrd,  a  fine  varying  according  to  the  rank 
of   the  person  in  question.      The  law  of   Ine,  after 
fixing  penalties  for  several  sorts  of  fighting,  goes  on 
to  say  that  if  the  quarrel  begins  at  a  banquet  {gehSor- 
scipe)  or  beer-drinking,  and  if  one  of  the  disputants 
bears  it  all  with  patience,  the  other  is  to  pay  a  fine  of 
thirty  shillings.^     In  a  law  of  iEthelred,  of  course 
much  later,  the  various  breaches  of  decorum  taper 
down  from  the  king's  peace  itself  to  the  good  order  of 
an  alehouse ;  the  fine  for  breaking  the  latter  depends 
on  whether  you  kill  your  man,  or  simply  wound  him.2 
All  these  laws  testify  to  the  Germanic  habit  of  drink- 
ing, quarrelling,  and  fighting,  with  quarrelling  proper 
as  a  vanishing  element  in  the  situation ;  words  soon 
yielded  to  blows,  and  the  German  would  rather  strike 
than  revile.     Holtzmann   quotes  very  happily  from 
the  Nibelungen  Lay :  — 

.  .  .  I  low  fits  it  heroes  bold, 
Like  a  pack  of  women  to  quarrel  and  to  scold  ? 

Evidently  there  was  a  certain  measure  of  safety,  if 
one  could  do  it,  in  following  the  implied  advice  in 
Ine's  law  about  the  man  who  bears  all  in  patience. 
To  let  the  tongue  wag  was  dangerous.  Li  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  poem  on  the  Destiny  of  Men,^  we  are  told 
that  the  sword  shall  slay  many  a  man  on  the  ale- 


1  Schmid,  p.  24. 


2  Ibid.  p.  212. 


8  vv.  48  fP. 


76 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


bench,  many  an  angry  tippler  heavy  with  wine ;  "  he 
hath  been  too  hasty  with  his  tongue." 

Still,  the  flyting  was  by  no  means  unknown  at 
these  banquets.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of 
formal  entertainment  in  which  first  one,  then  the 
other,  would  hurl  smart  but  pointed  remarks  at  the 
opponent,  delicacy  being  no  object.  For  swing  and 
dash,  an  Old  Norse  poem  known  as  Lokasenna,  "  The 
Flyting  of  Loki,"  takes  easy  precedence.  Loki  enters 
a  hall  where  all  the  other  gods  and  goddesses  are 
assembled,  demands  drink,  and  passes  the  time  of  day 
with  each  deity  in  turn.  The  following,  in  Vig- 
fusson  and  Powell's  translation,^  may  serve  as  ex- 
ample :  — 

Byggvi.  Be  sure,  if  I  had  a  heritage  like  Frey,  the  Ingowin, 
and  such  a  seemly  seat,  I  would  pound  thee  to  marrow,  thou 
ill-omened  crow,  and  maul  thine  every  limb. 

Loki.  What  is  the  tiny  thing  I  see  there  wagging  its  tail, 
snuffling  about  (doglike)?  Thou  wilt  be  always  at  Frey's 
hearth,  yapping  at  the  quern. 

Milder,  but  still  forcible,  is  the  flyting  between  Beo- 
wulf and  Hunferth,  which  will  be  found  below ;  ^ 
while  the  language  of  the  dialogue  between  Salomon 
and  Saturn,  and  of  the  famous  dispute  between  Soul 
and  Body,  may  be  termed  parliamentary.  Still  an- 
other fruit  of  the  banquet  was  the  personal  boast,  —  in 
Anglo-Saxon,  gilpeivide^  —  the  proclamation  of  one's 

1  C.  P.  B.  1. 107. 

2  See  p.  114.  For  a  vigorous  aftergrowth  of  this  style,  see  Dunbar's 
Flyting  with  Kennedy;  as  to  influence  of  the  French  jeu-partij  see 
Schipper,  William  Dimbar,  p.  64  f.  Schipper,  by  the  way,  in  his  edi- 
tion of  Dunbar,  pp.  141, 151,  thinks  there  is  little  connection  of  develop- 
ment between  Dunbar's  flyting  and  these  Germanic  specimens.  He 
assumes  Celtic  influence  and  French  models. 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


77 


own  and  singular  virtues,  together  with  vigorous  re- 
vilings  of  one's  foe,  and  promises  of  deeds  of  valor 
in  the  next  fight. 

Yet  the  outcome  of  revelry  was  not  always  of  this 
bellicose  nature.  In  the  frankness  and  brotherly  con- 
fidence begotten  of  their  cups,  the  Germans  opened 
heart  and  mouth  in  council  and  discussed  public 
affairs.  Reserve  and  suspicion  were  banished.  When 
they  were  sober  again,  they  made  a  decision  upon  the 
question  which  they  had  debated  at  their  feast ;  and 
thus,  says  Tacitus,  in  admiration  of  so  excellent  an 
arrangement,  "they  deliberate  at  a  time  when  con- 
cealment and  deception  are  out  of  the  question,  and 
they  come  to  a  conclusion  when  mistakes  are  impos- 
sible." ^  He  omits  to  note  the  probable  interval  of 
repose,  which  may  have  done  its  good  service  as  well 
as  the  other  factors  ;  for  Germanicus  surprised  the 
Marsi  after  one  of  their  great  banquets,  and  the  le- 
gions had  easy  work  wi^h  a  mass  of  prone  and  drowsy 
warriors,  —  "  drunken,"  as  the  historian  calls  them.^ 

The  German  did  not  simply  eat  and  grow  strong, 
but  he  helped  nature  by  exercise.  He  also  understood 
the  value  of  baths,  for  sanitary  if  not  for  personal  and 
altruistic  reasons.  Races  which  wear  fur  or  skins  of 
any  sort,  instead  of  linen  or  similar  texture,  are  apt 
to  suffer  from  vermin  to  an  almost  incredible  degree ; 
so  that  the  story  which  follows  may  well  come,  as 
Hehn  remarks,  from  the  sincerest  depths  of  Germanic 
consciousness.    A  certain  king,  in  an  Old  Norse  saga, 

1  Germ.  XXII.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Sterne,  in  his  Tristram  Shandy ,  ap- 
plauds this  arrangement.  Similar  practices  prevailed  among  the  Per- 
sians, and  with  uncivilized  races  in  South  America. 

2  Temulentos;  and  they  were  "stratis  etiam  tum  per  cubilia  prop- 
terque  mensas.  ..."    Tac.  Ann.  I.  50. 


V. 


78 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


catches  a  merman,  and  the  latter  lives  among  human 
beings  long  enough  to  know  their  ways.  The  king 
asks  him  what  has  pleased  him  best  of  all  that  he  has 
seen.  "Cold  water,"  he  answered,  "for  the  eyes; 
flesh  for  the  teeth ;  and  linen  for  the  body."  ^  When 
the  Germans  took  to  linen,  —  which  meant  that  they 
lirst  learned  to  raise  flax,  —  this  must  have  mitigated 
their  sufferings ;  but  even  linen  could  not  entirely 
protect  them  from  the  pests,  and  hence  a  passion  for 
bathing.  The  Cimbrians  were  bathing  when  they 
were  surprised  by  the  Romans  at  Aquae  Sextise. 
Warm  baths  were  a  great  luxury ;  and  in  later  times 
a  German  house  had  its  bath-room,  even  among  the 
less  flourishing  classes.  In  Iceland  the  warm  springs 
were  used  eagerly  for  this  purpose ;  and  such  natu- 
ral baths  were  everywhere  coveted  property  and 
caused  many  a  sharp  struggle  for  possession.  The 
Goths  were  plundering  Thrace,  says  Jordanes,^  and 
found  on  their  march  certain  warm  springs;  these 
stayed  for  a  while  their  impetuous  career,  and  they 
lingered  "many  days"  to  enjoy  the  luxury.  Of 
course,  as  Jordanes  tells  us  in  this  special  case,  there 
was  always  more  or  less  medicinal  and  healing  virtue 
ascribed  to  such  a  well  and  to  the  divinity  which 
protected  it. 

From  the  Germanic  bath  we  properly  pass  to  the 
Germanic  wardrobe.  Linen  has  already  been  men- 
tioned ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  formed  part  of 
the  German's  original  clothing.^     It  was  introduced, 

1  Hehn,  p.  153 ;  Weinhold,  Altnordisches  Lehen,  p.  100.       2  Cap.  XX. 

3  Traces  of  linen,  however,  are  found  by  antiquaries  in  remains  of 
the  Scandinavian  bronze  age,  along  with  proofs  of  agriculture.  See 
Kalund  in  Paul,  Grundr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2,  210. 


MEN   AND  AVOMEN 


79 


however,  veiy  early  in  the  historical  period.  Goths, 
Franks,  and  tlie  rest  come  upon  the  stage  dressed  in 
linen  as  well  as  skins  ;  "  dirty  linen  and  short  skins  " 
is  the  costume  in  which  certain  West-Goths  make 
their  appearance.^  Wool,  on  the  other  hand,  is  of 
very  ancient  date  as  an  element  in  our  forefathers' 
clothing.  A  find,  described  by  Montelius,^  shows 
excellent  woollen  garments  in  use  in  Denmark  dur- 
ing the  bronze  age,  —  that  is,  at  least  as  early  as 
500  B.C.  The  outfit  consists  of  a  cap,  a  long  man- 
tle, and  a  sort  of  covering  for  the  legs.  Another  find 
shows  the  clothing  of  a  woman  of  the  same  period ; 
it  was  much  like  the  dress  of  the  man,  and  was  abun- 
dant in  quantity.     We  even  find  nets  for  the  hair. 

With  regard  to  the  clothing  of  Germans  in  the 
time  of  Tacitus,  there  are  two  opinions.  The  Ger- 
mania  tells  us  that  the  common  garment  of  the  people 
was  a  mantle  or  cloak  fastened  by  a  buckle  or  even  by  a 
common  thorn.  Without  other  clothing  (^cetera  intecti) 
they  spend  whole  days  by  the  fireside.  The  richest  peo- 
ple are  distinguished  by  a  garment  (yeste)^  which  is 
not  worn  loose,  in  the  fashion  of  Sarmatia  and  Parthia, 
but  rather  clings  to  the  figure  and  the  limbs.  More- 
over, the  Germans  wear  skins  of  wild  beasts,  paying 
more  attention  to  selection  and  adornment,  the  fur- 
ther they  are  removed  from  lloman  influences.  The 
dress  of  the  women  is  like  that  of  the  men ;  only  the 
women  are  wont  to  wrap  themselves  in  garments  of 
linen,  which  they  embroider  with  purple,^  but   use 

1  Hehn,  p.  151. 

2  Civilization  of  Sweden  in  Ancient  Times,  trans,  by  Woods,  1888, 
p.  59  ff . 

8  As  the  commentators  point  out,  this  is  not  the  Roman  purple,  but 
probably  a  native  vegetable  dye. 


80 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


81 


without  sleeves,  leaving  bare  the  arms,  the  shoulders, 
and  the  upper  part  of  the  breast.  So  far  Tacitus.^ 
Pomponius  Mela,  the  geographer,  follows  the  in- 
stincts of  his  kind  in  making  barbarism  very  barbar- 
ous indeed.  Even  in  severe  winter  weather,  he  says, 
the  German  men  are  clad  in  mantles,^  or  with  the 
bark  of  trees ;  and  it  is  by  exposure  to  cold  that 
they  harden  their  huge  frames.  Boys  go  naked.^ 
Lastly,  Csesar  and  his  Suevi  may  give  evidence. 
These  warlike  Germans  are  described  in  the  usual 
Roman  fashion,  as  undisciplined  and  impetuous  giants, 
who  in  that  cold  climate  go  without  any  clothing 
save  skins,  and  these  so  small  as  to  leave  large  por- 
tions of  the  body  utterly  bare.*  Caesar  says  the  same 
thing  of  the  Germans  as  a  race,  —  they  wear  skins 
or  aprons,  which  leave  naked  a  large  part  of  the 
body.^ 

It  must  be  admitted  that  these  accounts  make  for 
a  very  slender  outfit  of  clothing.  But  Miillenhoff 
enters  the  lists  for  a  larger  Germanic  wardi'obe.^  In 
the  first  place,  he  bids  us  look  at  the  climate ;  it 
demanded  at  least  a  sufficient  undergarment  made 
of  woollen  or  linen,  together  with  a  mantle  or  jacket. 
Instead  of  understanding  Tacitus  to  say  that  the 
richest  Germans  are  distinguished  "  by  a  garment " 

1  Germ.  XVII. 

2  Sagis :  the  same  word  which  Tacitus  uses ;  probably  made  of  thick 
and  rough  woollen  material. 

spomp.  Mela,  III.  3:  "qui  habitant  immanes  sunt  animis  atque 
corporibus  et  ad  iusitam  feritatem  vaste  utraque  exercent,  bellando 
animos,  corpora  assuetudine  laborum,  maxime  frigoris.  nudi  agunt 
antequam  puberes  sint,  et  longissima  apud  eos  pueritia  est.  viri  sagis 
velantur  aut  libris  arborum  quamvis  saeva  hieme." 

4  Caesar  B.  G.  IV.  1.  5  ibid.  VI.  21. 

6  In  IlaupVs  Zeitschri/t,  X.  553  ff. 


which  fits  closely  to  the  figure,  Miillenhoff  would 
read,  "by  the  garment,"  and  would  make  the  rich- 
ness and  adornment  of  its  material  the  test  of  its 
wearer's  rank.  That  is,  he  would  make  not  only  the 
sagum,  but  also  the  vestis^  common  to  all  Germans ; 
whereas  many  commentators  understand  Tacitus  to 
mean  that  the  rich  have  a  peculiar  kind  of  garment, 
an  exceptional  garment.^  This  view  is  borne  out  by 
the  testimony  of  Pomponius  Mela,  and  of  Ccesar,  who 
does  not  even  mention  the  mantle.  On  the  other 
hand,  however,  the  complete  woollen  outfit  found  in 
Denmark,  later  customs,  and  several  other  consider- 
ations, go  to  support  the  claim  of  Miillenhoff.  The 
neighboring  Gauls  wore  trousers  and  shoes,  —  Gallia 
Bracata  would  be  nearest  Germany  in  these  respects, 
—  and  a  northern  climate  would  force  some  such  habit 
upon  the  nations.  Summer  and  winter  would  natu- 
rally make  a  difference,  and  Germans  may  have 
showed  themselves  oftenest  to  Roman  eyes  in  scanty 
raiment,  such  as  we  know  they  affected  for  the  hour 
of  battle.  Finally,  the  rhetorical  impulses  of  the 
most  truthful  and  sober  Roman  would  exaggerate 
every  difference  of  garb  between  the  two  races.  It 
may  well  be  true,  remarks  Miillenhoff,  that  a  Ger- 
man warrior  would  sit  whole  days  by  his  fire  in  such 
an  undress  as  Tacitus  describes ;  but  it  is  not  said 
that  he  went  thus  out  of  doors.  Miillenhoff  gives  in 
good  faith  a  somewhat  amusing  illustration  of  the 
ancestral  habit  drawn  from  the  ways  of  a  modern 
German  professor.  "Does  not  many  a  man,"  he 
asks,  "  content  himself,  when  he  rises  from  bed,  with 
dressing-gown,  one  other  garment,  and  slippers,  and 

1  Baumstark,  Germania,  pp.  585,  592. 


82 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


so  work  through  the  morning  until  he  arrays  him- 
self to  go  out?'' 

The  question  seems  to  hinge  on  the  vestis  of  Taci- 
tus,—  whether  it  was  a  general  garment  worn  by 
high  and  low,  which  differed  in  its  making  and  ma- 
terial, or  whether  it  was  a  "lending"  of  Gallic  or 
other  culture,  foreign  to  the  Sabine  austerity  of  a 
true  primitive  German.  It  is  not  an  easy  question 
to  decide,  and  the  doctors  disagree  radically.  On 
one  of  the  triumphal  columns  in  Rome,  German 
soldiers  are  represented  in  trousers  and  shoes,  and, 
for  the  rest,  either  in  a  short  doublet  or  else  naked 
to  the  girdle.  Of  course  they  fought  in  scanty 
clothing ;  ^  and  Paul  the  Deacon  even  tells  us  of 
a  battle  between  his  countrymen  and  the  Heruli, 
where  the  latter  went  into  the  fight  with  nothing 
but  a  cloth  about  the  loins,  "either  to  fight  more 
freely  or  else  to  show  contempt  for  wounds  " :  the 
explanation,  however,  would  seem  to  make  this  uni- 
form an  unusual  one.  Children  at  play  wore  little 
clothing ;  witness  Pomponius  Mela  above,  and  Tacitus 
with  his  7iudi  ac  sordidly  "  naked  and  dirty." 

Even  if  we  take  the  description  of  Tacitus,  much  as 
it  leaves  to  be  desired,  for  an  authentic  description  of 
the  Germanic  dress,  we  may  fancy  at  least  a  noble  or 
wealthy  freeman  of  that  time  in  woollen  sagum,  or 
cloak,  woollen,  or  perhaps  now  and  then  linen  under- 
garment, something  like  trousers,  and  his  inevitable 
arms.  We  may  safely  add  shoes,  made  out  of  leather 
which  was  tanned  with  the  aid  of  bark.  Clothing 
was  made  chiefly  by  the  women,  who  span  and  wove 
steadily  through  the  long  German  winter  ;^  for  Egypt 

1  Tac.  Hist.  II.  22. 


MEN   AND  WOMEN 


83 


is  the  only  country  of  old  times  where  men  did  the 
weaving.!  German  women  had  great  skill  in  this  art, 
and  may  well  have  taken  pride  in  the  raiment  of  their 
sires  and  husbands,  and  indeed  in  their  own  garb. 
The  priestesses  who  came  with  the  Cimbrians  to  Italy 
had  white  robes,  with  a  girdle,  and  mantles  of  fine 
linen.  Men  whose  wives  and  daughters  are  famous 
websters  and  spinsters  —  Pliny  waxes  fairly  enthusi- 
astic on  this  subject — could  not  have  been  like  Afri- 
can savages,  and  would  hardly  have  gone  naked  for 
the  sake  of  enduring  the  cold.  A  Danish  variation 
of  "  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle  "  is  "  to  give  white 
bread  to  a  baker's  boy  " ;  and  surely  it  is  the  same 
thing  when  we  assert  that  foreign  culture  had  to 
bring  the  merest  beginnings  of  raiment  to  a  race 
whose  women  were  experts  in  weaving  and  spinning ! 
The  tradition  held.  Charlemagne,  who  clung  to  the 
old  Frankish  dress,  made  his  daughters  learn  to  spin 
and  weave.  Even  in  the  time  of  Tacitus,  rent  or 
tribute  from  slave  to  master  was  often  paid  in  cloth- 
This,  too,  is  hardly  characteristic  of  the  naked 


mg.- 


savage. 

We  may  conclude  our  brief  description  of  Germanic 
dress,  just  as  we  began  it,  with  a  notice  of  some  gar- 
ments found  in  a  bog  not  far  from  the  old  home  of 
the  Angles  on  the  Cimbrian  peninsula.  These  clothes 
were  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  seem  to  date 
from  about  the  year  300  A.D.^  They  probably  be- 
longed to  a  wealthy  man,  and  consist  of  two  mantles 
of  a  square    piece  of  woollen  cloth   (the  sagum  of 

1  Lippert,  Culturgesehichte,  1. 173.  2  Germ.  XXV. 

8  Weinhold,  Deutsche  Frauen,'^  II.  221.  His  description  is  taken 
from  the  Danish ;  the  articles  themselves  are  in  the  museum  at  Kiel. 


84 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN   AND  WOMEN 


85 


r\ 


Tacitus),  with  fringe  one  side  and  hogged  on  the 
other,  and  originally  green  in  hue.  There  was  also 
a  coat  of  woollen,  with  sleeves  of  stronger  material 
than  the  rest ;  of  still  heavier  material  were  the  two 
pairs  of  long  trousers,  to  which  stockings  were  sewed 
fast.  There  wa3  a  place  for  the  belt.  Further,  there 
were  leather  sandals  with  attempt  at  ornamentation. 
Not  unlike  this  fashion  was  the  garb  of  those  Hen- 
gists  and  Horsas,  who,  not  simply  "in  449,"  but 
many  long  years  before,  were  wont  to  take  ship  for 
the  tempting  shores  of  Britain. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  in  ethnology  that  the  cus- 
tom of  wearing  clothes  springs  in  the  first  instance  not 
from  the  sense  of  decency,  and  hardly  from  the  desire 
of  warmth,  but  from  the  passion  for  adornment. 
Ornaments  were  familiar  to  our  remotest  ancestors. 
In  the  stone  age  of  Scandinavia,  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  before  the  beginning  of  our  era,  men  and 
women  had  an  abundant  supply  of  this  aid  to  individ- 
uality,—  which  some  philosopher  has  discovered  to 
be  the  cause  of  personal  adornment,  —  mainly  articles 
made  of  amber.  Some  centuries  later,  in  the  bronze 
age  of  the  same  country,  amber  has  yielded  to  metal, 
and  rings,  buckles,  buttons,  combs,  and  the  like,  are 
found  in  great  profusion.^  The  yet  later  Germans 
were  not  without  such  adornments.  Many  articles, 
thinks  the  sanguine  Waitz,^  were  of  domestic  manu- 
facture ;  but  the  greater  part  were  taken  as  booty  or 
obtained  in  the  way  of  barter.  Gold,  in  the  historic 
period,  was  furnished  by  the  Byzantine  coins  sent  to 
Goths  on  the  Danube,  and  thence  by  the  old  trade- 

1  Kalund  in  Paul's  Grundr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2,  210. 

2  Verfassungsges.  I.  21,  note. 


route  through  Poland  to  the  Vistula,  and  so  to  the 
Baltic  Sea;  and  this  tribute-gold  may  have  been 
worked  into  rings  and  collars  by  the  domestic  smiths. 
Perhaps,  however,  the  jewellers  of  Byzantium  sent 
actual  ornaments  to  their  northern  trade,  and  half- 
breed  bagmen  may  have  wheedled  into  purchase 
many  a  chieftain  and  many  a  matron  of  the  German 
forests.^  Like  weapons,  the  old  Germanic  ornaments 
had  a  pedigree,  and  in  the  poetry  of  the  day  are 
called  "  work  of  giants,"  "  the  making  of  old  days," 
"  heirlooms  of  price."  In  BSowulf,  the  Danish  king 
says  that  he  has  settled  a  feud  by  paying  tribute  to 
the  enemy,  — 

To  the  Wylfings  sent,  o'er  the  water-ridges, 
olden  treasure  .  .  .2 

and  at  the  end  of  the  same  epic  we  are  told  that  the 

hoard,  watched  by  a  dragon  and  concealed  in  a  cave, 

consists  of  — 

old-time  treasure  .  .  . 
the  huge  bequest  of  high-born  race.s 

This  mystery  and  this  antiquity  which  hedge  about 
Germanic  treasure  would  seem  to  indicate  that  most 
of  it  was  bought  or  stolen,  and  the  making  of  it  no 
common  and  palpable  affair,  to  be  seen  in  any  gold- 
smith's shop.  The  same  sense  of  mystery  induced 
the  poets  of  Christian  days  to  talk  of  "heathen 
gold,"  which  had  come  down  from  the  olden  time. 
As  to  the  value  of  these  ornaments  in  the  regard  of 
their  owners,  we  have  the  sequence  of  Florus,  "horses, 

1  See  also  Montelius,  work  quoted,  p.  126  f. 

2  B^ow,  472.  8  Ibid.  2233  ff. 


86 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


87 


cattle,  and  necklaces,"  as  the  summary  of   German 
spoils  made  by  Drusus. 

Nearly  all  the  metals  seem  to  have  been  known, 
but  neither  gold  nor  silver  was  mined  by  the  natives ; 
and  hence  the  lack  of  costly  plate.     When  Tacitus 
tells  us  that  his  Germans  care  no  more  for  silver  than 
for  common  earthen  vessels,  we  may  certainly  assume 
a  rhetorical  rebuke  meant  for  the  Eoman  collectors 
of  such  ware  at  fabulous  prices,  —  German  simplicity 
once  more  a  foil  to  imperial  prodigality.     Massive 
articles  made  of  the  precious  metals,  such  as  those 
silver  vases  which  the  historian  mentions  as  now  and 
then  seen  in  Germany,  would  hardly  appeal  to  native 
taste ;  but  ornaments  of  these  metals,  as  well  as  of 
amber  and  glass,  were  freely  worn  by  men  and  women. 
The  conventional  adjective  of  the  minstrel,  when  he 
sings  about  dames  of  high  degree,  is  "  gold-decked," 
"gold-laden";  such  is  Hrothgar's  queen  in  Beowulf, 
and  such  is  even  the  Hebrew  Judith,  whom  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  poet  calls  "adorned  with  rings."     But  the 
men  by  no  means  despised  such  decoration,  especially 
kings  and  chieftains,  who  are  called  "  gold-givers  " 
and  "  ring-breakers  "  from  their  habit  of  wearing  upon 
the  arm  spirals  of  gold,  which  they  were  wont  to  break 
off  and  bestow  upon  a  valiant  clansman.     Neck-rings 
of  massive  gold  —  the  so-called  "  snake-rings  "  —  were 
the  rarest  and  costliest  of  these  treasures,  arm-rings 
and  finger-rings  the  commonest ;  besides,  we  find  in 
the  graves  necklaces,  clasps  for  mantles,  buckles,  and 
so  on,  made  of  gold,  of  silver,  and  of  a  mixture  of 
the  two  metals.     Perhaps  the  spirals  are  best  repre- 
sented in  the  museums  of  Europe ;  for  not  only  the 
warrior  but  the  singer  was  rewarded  by  these  rings. 


and  sang  the  bounty  of  his  patron  from  tribe  to  tribe. 
Widsith,  the  ideal  minstrel  of  early  Anglo-Saxon 
times,  tells  us  :  — 

And  from  the  Burgundians  got  I  a  ring ; 
there  Guthhere  gave  me  glittering  treasure 
in  pay  for  my  song,  —  no  puny  king !  ^ 

^Ifwine,  too  (Alboin),  is  generous  to  the  minstrel, 
and  Ermanric  gives  him  another  ring,  which  he  spends 
for  land,  only  to  have  gift  of  yet  another  from  his 
gracious  queen :  — 

Thus  moved  her  fame  thro'  many  lands, 
whenever  chanced  I  was  charged  to  say 
where  under  heaven  I'd  heard  of  the  best 
gold-deckt  queen  her  gifts  dividing. 2 

"  To  have  gift  of  red  rings,"  as  Weinhold  remarks, 
sounds  much  better  than  to  draw  wages  or  to  take 
money ;  but  it  was  all  the  same  thing.  The  love  of 
these  rings  was  as  keen  as  the  love  of  money  nowa- 
days, and  the  appetite  increased  with  what  it  fed 
upon.  The  Chatti,  who  regarded  the  wearing  of 
rings  as  a  sign  of  slavery,  make,  if  the  story  which 
Tacitus  tells  ^  be  true,  an  exception.  It  was  a  franker 
and  more  childish  love  of  gold  than  our  modern  and 
tempered  affection,  in  days  when  we  have  so  many 
people  to  tell  us  of  the  vanity  of  riches.  For  instance, 
in  the  Hildebrand  Lay  —  that  solitary  bit  of  jetsam 
from  the  wreck  of  strictly  German  heroic  poetry  —  a 
chieftain  returning  home  after  years  of  exile  finds  on 
the  border  of  his  land  the  son  whom  he  left  an  infant 
in  the  cradle,  now  a  warrior  in  arms.    The  son  insists 


1  Widsi^,  65  fP. 


2  Ibid.  99  ff. 


8  Qerm,  XXXI, 


88 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


upon  fighting  liis  father,  whom  he  deems  to  be  an 
impostor,  and  the  old  hero  expostulates  in  vain. 
When,  finally,  all  persuasion  fails,  the  sire  appeals  to 
the  last  infirmity  of  barbaric  mind,  and  offers  his  arm- 
rings  ;  — 

Unwound  from  arm  winding  rings 

of  Kaisergold  wrought.  .  .  . 

In  fact,  plenty  of  this  treasure  and  a  good  wife  — 
with  flocks  and  herds  enough,  Men  entendu — made 
up  the  domestic  ideal  of  the  German.  Says  Giant 
Thrym  in  the  Edda,  waiting  impatiently  for  the  arrival 
of  his  bride :  "  Golden-horned  cattle  go  about  in 
my  yard,  all-black  oxen.  ...  I  have  plenty  of 
jewels  and  plenty  of  rings,  —  I  lack  nothing  but 
Freyja ! "  i 

Finally,  as  in  so  many  cases,  the  thing  dear  and 
desirable  to  man  is  lovely  in  the  sight  of  the  gods. 
Rings  occur  in  cult  and  in  myth.  In  the  rites  of 
Scandinavian  heathendom,  an  oath  was  sworn  upon 
the  holy  ring  of  the  altar  ;2  it  was  smeared  with 
blood  of  the  sacrifice,  and  was  worn  on  the  hand  of 
the  chieftain  at  all  assemblies  of  the  people.  In  the 
mytlis,  we  find  Odin  taking  oath  upon  a  ring.  An 
interesting  case  is  mentioned  by  Maurer,^  where  the' 
vikings  in  England  during  King  Alfred's  reign  sol- 
emnly swear  to  leave  the  country.  They  take  oath 
first  upon  the  arm-ring,  and  then  upon  the  Christian 

1  Xirymskvi^a,  92  ff.    See  C.  P.  B.  1. 179. 

2  Maurer,  Bekehrnng  d.  Norweg.  Stdmme,  II.  221 ;  and  II.  190,  note ; 
Grimm,  R.  A.  895  f . ;  Vigf usson  and  Powell,  C.  P.  B.  1,  422  ff.  The  ring 
was  of  gold  or  silver,  and  weighed  from  two  to  twenty  ounces. 

8  Work  quoted,  I.  68.  Maurer  notes  that  only  Asser  and  Florence  of 
Worcester  mention  the  relics.  See  also  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle^  anno 
876. 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


89 


relics.  Our  usual  "magnified  and  non-natural" 
ring  is  also  forthcoming  in  the  pretty  Scandinavian 
myth  —  allusions  to  it  occur  in  Anglo-Saxon  poetry 
—  of  the  necklace  belonging  to  the  goddess  Freyja 
(or  Frija),  made  for  her  by  the  dwarfish  smiths  of 
the  hillside.^  Grimm  compares  it  with  the  necklace, 
and  even  the  cestus  of  Venus  ;  ^  and  the  interpreters 
are  ready  with  a  host  of  explanations,  —  grass,  crops, 
twilight,  stars,  what  not.  Our  main  interest  lies  in 
the  fact  that  old  Germans,  like  old  Greeks,  gave  a 
necklace  to  their  goddess  of  love.  We  may  conclude 
the  subject  with  a  bit  of  Germanic  paraphrase.  The 
translator  of  the  gospels  who  made  the  Old-Saxon 
Heliand^  with  the  passage  before  him:  "Cast  not 
your  pearls  before  swine,"  puts  it  as  follows :  "  Ye 
shall  not  hang  your  pearls  on  the  neck  of  swine,  the 
treasure  of  jewels,  the  Jioly  nechlace^^  —  and  this  last 
alliterative  expression,  h^lag  halsmeni^  Vilmar  counts 
as  a  bit  of  the  old  heathendom.^ 

1  A  minute  investigation  of  the  myth  by  Miillenhoff  in  HaupVs 
Zeitschr.  XXX.  217  ff.,  Frija  und  der  Halshandmythus. 

2  D.  MA  255. 

«  Heliand,  ed.  Heyne,  v.  1722  ff.,  and  Vilmar,  Altertumer  im  HelU 
and,  p.  45. 


W 


90 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   HOME 

Hatred  of  cities  —  Underground  dwellings  —  Houses  wooden 
and  frail  —  Construction,  and  later  improvements  —  The  biirg,  and 
the  hall  —  Descriptions  in  Beoiculf — Banquet,  songs,  fly  ting,  etc. 
—  Amusements  and  vices  — Hunting  —  The  primitive  house  com- 
pared with  modem  dwellings. 

We  pass  to  the  Germanic  house.  The  nomad  has 
little  need  of  cities,  which  are  indeed  a  good  index  of 
civilization,  if  one  bears  in  mind  Aristotle's  definition 
of  man  as  "  a  political  being,"  a  being  with  gregarious 
instincts.  Cities,  we  know,  the  German  could  not 
brook;  his  nomadic  instincts  were  too  strong,  and 
these  hated  walls  of  stone,  which  so  often  set  a  limit 
to  his  raid  and  kept  him  from  his  booty,  were  but  the 
munimenta  servitii^  ramparts  and  refuge  of  slaves.^ 
Such  confinement,  cried  a  German  orator,  robs  even 
wild  beasts  of  their  courage.  Indeed,  the  city  is  in 
every  way  offspring  and  lover  of  peace.  It  is  inter- 
esting, as  Leo  points  out,^  to  note  that  among  all 
Germanic  races,  the  names  of  towns  have  no  warlike 
reference  such  as  we  find  in  the  names  of  people. 
Towns  are  named  after  races  and  families  (Canterbury, 
Birmingham),  or  even  after  trees,  stones,  and  natural 

1  Tac.  Hist.  IV.  64. 

2  Rectitudines  Singularum  Personaruniy  p.  14. 


|i 


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91 


peculiarities.  Not  till  he  became  at  least  in  part  a 
man  of  peace,  did  the  German  build  his  towns.  Such 
cities  as  he  took  from  his  enemies  were  given  over  to 
plunder,  and  then  left  to  crumble  away  in  neglect. 
So  fared  the  Roman  towns  of  Britain  at  the  hands  of 
our  invading  forefathers.^ 

When  actual  German  towns  are  mentioned  as  the 
seat  of  chieftain  or  king,  nothing  is  to  be  understood 
which  could  compare  with  the  Roman  city,  —  only  a 
cluster  of  wooden  houses,  convenient  place  for  the 
assembly  of  tribes  or  clans.     Such   may  have    been 
Mattium,  the  capital  town  of  the  Chatti,^  which  Ger- 
manicus  burnt  on  one  of  his  raids.     This  was  doubt- 
less a  very  easy  task,  since  there  was  nothing  used  but 
wood  in  the  construction  of  a  German  house.     The 
use  of  stone,  like  so  many  other  arts,  was  quite  for- 
eign to  the  north  of  Europe ;  it  is  first  found  "by  the 
southeastern  corner  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  spreads, 
like  the  use  of  wine  and  oil,  step  by  step  along  the 
coasts  and  peninsulas  of  southern  Europe,  and  thence 
over  the  civilized    world."  ^     Stone    masonry  meant 
to  the  German  something   mysterious,  uncanny,  the 
doing  of  demigods  in  old  time ;  and  so  it  easily  fell 
under   the  ban  of   the  supernatural.     This  massive 
solidity  seemed  hardly  of  human  origin ;  and  the  ear- 
liest Englishmen  called  such  a  building  "  the  burg  of 

1  For  example,  the  city  of  Anderida.  Whether  our  Anglo-Saxon 
poem,  "The  Ruin,"  is  to  be  referred  to  the  Roman  city  of  Bath  — as 
Leo  and  Professor  Earle  think  it  should  be  —  is  doubtful.  See  Wulker, 
Grundr.  d.  ags.  Lit.  p.  211  ff.,  for  the  various  opinions.  Green  {The 
Making  of  England)  and  Grant  Allen  (Anglo-Saxon  Britain,  p.  47) 
hold  that  the  Saxons  left  the  Roman  cities  of  Britain  to  decay;  but 
T.  Wright  (The  Celt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Saxon,  p.  510)  asserts  that 
such  towns  were  not  generally  destroyed. 

'^  Tac.  Ann.  I.  50.  s  Hehu,  p.  111. 


it 


92 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


giants,"  "  the  giants'  ancient  work."  In  the  Heliand, 
"  greatest  of  stone-works  "  is  the  phrase  applied  to 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  Moreover,  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  Stonehenge  and  other  works  of  the  sort 
are  monuments  of  a  race  which  preceded  Aryans  in 
the  possession  of  southern  and  western  Europe,  a 
race  which  "stretched  from  the  Nile  valley  along 
North  Africa,  and  so  through  Spain  and  France  to 
the  Atlantic."  ^ 

In  the  time  of  Tacitus,  the  Germanic  house  was 
built  entirely  of  wood,  —  etymology  tells  us  that 
Latin  domus  and  English  timber  are  the  same  word, 
—  and  was  either  an  isolated  dwelling  surrounded 
by  cabins  for  slaves  and  dependents,  like  the  modern 
Hof  in  Baden  and  Westphalia,  or  else  stood  in  a 
village.  The  latter  is  the  type  of  house  in  our  hdm 
or  tUn.  The  house  itself  was  not  very  substantial, 
if  we  may  argue  from  the  custom  of  going  under- 
ground in  winter;  and  was  probably  even  in  the 
time  of  our  historian  a  comparatively  new  experi- 
ment. The  primitive  house  must  be  sought  for  the 
noi-thern  tribes  mainly  in  those  same  underground 
dwellings  which  so  rudely  blot  our  picture  of  the 
Germanic  home.  These  are  not  specially  Germanic  ;2 
Scythians,  Armenians,  races  from  all  quarters  of  the 
globe,  have  used  them.  Hehn  makes  the  later  house 
an  outgrowth  of  this  primitive  burrow ;  from  a  mere 
cave,  the  dwelling  grew  in  size  and  form,  and  "  little 
by  little  rose  the  roof  of  turf,  and  the  cavern  under 
the  house  served  at  last  only  for  winter  and  the 
abode  of  the  women."  Villages  made  up  of  such 
houses  can  still  be  seen  in  Russia.     We  must  not  shut 

1  Hehn,  p.  114.  2  Again  see  Hehn's  admirable  work,  p.  436  f. 


THE   HOME 


93 


li 


1^ 


our  eyes  to  the  darker  side  of  Germanic  life  which 
this  dwelling  shows  us ;  in  evading  the  cold  of  win- 
ter, our  forefathers  found  an  atmosphere  foul  almost 
to  suffocation,  and  abundance  of  every  sort  of  ver- 
min, —  as  is  still  the  case  with  many  places  in  Siberia. 
Yet  here  sat  the  women  of  the  Germanic  family  and, 
as  Pliny  tells  us,  wove  and  spun,  producing  their 
exquisite  linen  in  spite  of  all  the  squalor.  Indeed, 
Virgil  paints  us  a  far  cosier  scene :  ^  "  For  the  peo- 
ple,^ they  keep  careless  holiday  in  caves  delved  deep 
under  the  earth,  with  store  of  timber,  nay,  whole  elms 
pushed  up  to  the  hearth,  and  heaped  on  the  blaze  — 
there  they  lengthen  out  the  night  in  games,  and 
jovially  imitate  draughts  of  the  wine  with  fermented 
grains  and  acid  service-juice."  ^ 

In  later  times  than  those  which  Tacitus  describes, 
the  Norwegian  farmer  had  a  subterranean  room  by 
his  house,  or  even  under  it,  with  a  secret  passage 
leading  afield,  which  served  as  an  escape  from  the 
attacks  of  the  foe  or  from  a  sudden  outbreak  of  fire.* 

Such  was  the  nomadic  German's  winter  home.  In 
summer  he  had  his  wagon-like  house,  which  could  be 
pitched,  after  the  fashion  of  a  tent,  for  a  day  or  two ; 
and  which,  even  after  agriculture  had  begun  to  tighten 
its  hold  and  fasten  men  to  the  soil,  was  still  a  very 
flimsy  affair.  The  primitive  German,  though  led  by 
his  fate  to  the  forest  with  its  abundant  material  for 
building,  set  up  nevertheless  no  substantial  house,  — 
why  should  he  do  it  ?  Uhi  bene,  ibi  patria ;  all  he 
asked  was  grazing  and  hunting  and  the  coveted  salt- 

1  Georg.  III.  376  ff. 

2  Of  the  north,  —  Scythia,  Germany,  —  "  the  frozen  north  "  generally. 
8  Conington's  translation.    The  beverage  is  beer. 

*  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Lehen,  p.  227. 


1.1 


94 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


spring.i     Tiles,  mortar,  and  the  like  were  unknown 
to  the  German ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  long  in 
learning  to  use  actual  timber.     Wattled  work,  twigs 
or  flexible  branches  woven  together,  seemed  to  give 
enough  stability  for  all  his  purposes ;  and  even  on  the 
column  of  Marcus  Aurelius  what  we  may  take  to  be 
contemporary  German  houses  are  "of  cylindrical  shape 
with  round  vaulted  roof,  no  window,  and  rectangu- 
lar door ;  they  appear  to  be  woven  of  rushes  or  twigs, 
and  are  bound  about  with  cords."     Tacitus  says  the 
sole  material  for  German  houses  of  his  time  is  wood; 2 
and  this  we  may  take  to  include  the  just-described 
twigs   and   rushes   of   the    later  Quadi   and  Marco- 
manni.     When  the  German  settled  down  to  till  the 
fields,  he  began  to  use  the  heavy  rough-hewn  timber 
of  his  forest.     Nevertheless,   the  nomadic  trick  of 
carrying  about  parts  of  one's  house  was  slow  to  die 
out.     The  Aryan's  dwelling  was    his  temple  ;  there 
hovered  the  souls  of  his  ancestors,  and  there  he  had 
often  buried   their   bodies.      When    the  Norwegian 
emigration  to  Iceland  was  in  progress,  certain  men 
arriving  off  the  island  coast,  and  ignorant  where  they 
ought  to  land,  threw  into  the   sea   the    house-posts 
which  they  had  brought  with   them;  wherever  the 
timbers  drifted  to  the  shore,  in  that  spot  they  built 
their  new  abode.^     Parts  of  a  heathen  temple  were 
also  carried  to  Iceland. 

1  Hehn  quotes  Seneca  de  Prov.  IV.  4 :  "  Nulla  illis  domicllia  null»que 
sedes  sunt,  nisi  quas  lassitude  in  diem  posuit  " 

2  Germ.  XVI. 

8  Eyrhyggiasaga,  in  P.  E.  MuUer's  Sagabibliothek,  1. 189  f.  For  the 
rest,  R.  Henning,  Das  devtsche  Haus,  "  Quellen  und  Forschungen." 
No  47,  Strassburg,  1882,  p.  163  ff.,  gives  examples  of  such  a  removal 
of  houses,  taken  from  Indian,  Greek,  and  modern  German  history.  See 
also  below,  p.  443. 


THE   HOME 


95 


Evidently  the  house  which  Tacitus  describes  must 
have  been  a  very  light  structure,  wholly  made  of 
wood,  or  with  plaited  work  in  the  less  stable  parts. 
According  to  William  of  Malmesbury,  the  first  Chris- 
tian church  in  England  was  of  the  wattled  material 
or  hurdle  referred  to  above.     Foundation  and  floors 
are  of  more  recent  date,  and  the  Norse  flet  is  simply 
the  earth  itself  stamped  hard  and  firm.     The  modern 
peasant-house,  which  best  shows  in  survival  our  old 
Germanic  dwelling,  is  built  directly  on  the  earth,  — 
this   is  particularly  true  of   Saxony,  —  or  else  on  a 
foundation  made  of  posts.^     To  be  sure.  Professor 
Moritz   Heyne,  in  his   excellent  monograph  on  the 
hall  described  in  Beowulf, ^  says  that  all  Anglo-Saxon 
houses  had  a  stone  foundation,  and  quotes  both  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Gothic  words  in  support  of  the  assertion. 
But  the  general  words  for  "  foundation  "  do  not  prove 
for  primitive  times  the  existence  of  the  specific  part  of 
a  house,  being  rather  applied  later  to  the  imitations  of 
Roman  architecture.     Further  proof  of  the  absence 
of  any  elaborate  foundation  is  seen  in  certain  old  Ger- 
man laws  which  seem  to  us  not  far  removed  from 
burlesque.      But  our  ancestors  doubtless  took  very 
seriously  the  law  providing  punishment  for  any  man 
who  should  dig  his  way  under  the  walls  of  a  house, 
and  so  make  criminal  entrance.     Still  more  sugges- 
tive is  the  ordinance  against  him  who  throws  down  or 
tears  apart  another  man's  house.^     Further  proof  of 
frailty  comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon,  where  the  "  tree- 
wright,"  as  a  builder  was   called,  certainly  did  not 
make  houses  which  would  last  till  doomsday.    Wright  * 

1  Henning,  p.  166. 

2  Ueher  Lage  und  Construction  d.  Halle  Heorot,  p.  32. 

8  Hehn,  p.  114.  ■♦  Domestic  Manners  and  Sentiments,  p.  14. 


96 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


calls  attention  to  an  episode  in  the  story  of  Here  ward, 
where  the  "  bower  "  or  ladies'  room  of  a  certain  house 
was  built  in  such  a  weak  fashion,  that  when  one  day 
a  bear  broke  loose  and  rushed  for  the  bower,  in 
which  the  lady  of  the  mansion  had  taken  shelter, 
it  was  only  the  prompt  slaughter  of  the  bear  that 
saved  her. 

The  roof  of  the  Germanic  house  was  made  of  reeds 
or  straw,  was  steep,  and  projected  over  the  sides.  By 
the  nature  of  the  case,  fire  must  have  been  a  dreaded 
foe ;  and  the  burning  of  a  German  village  is  often 
mentioned  in  history  as  well  as  pictured  on  columns 
of  triumph  in  Rome.  In  later  times,  the  German 
lighted  his  hall  in  the  long  winter  evenings  with  flar- 
ing torches,  or  with  candles,  —  mere  lumps  of  fat,  — 
and  the  fire  burned  freely  on  the  middle  of  the  floor.^ 
Very  picturesque  was  the  Old  Norse  hall  with  its 
blazing  fires,  of  which  the  Sagas  and  the  Edda  tell  us ; 
but  the  element  of  danger,  said  always  to  heighten 
the  romantic,  was  not  far  to  seek.  Roof  and  walls  in 
this  constant  smoke  would  dry  to  a  perilous  extent ; 
a  bit  of  quarrel  in  the  midst  of  drinking  and  revels, 
and  we  can  imagine  many  an  overturned  torch  or 
scattered  fire,  and  many  a  banquet  hall  bursting  into 
sudden  flames.  This  wild  gleam  of  fire  lights  up  our 
old  poetry  on  every  hand.  Hrothgar's  palace,  in  BSo- 
wulf,  is  one  day  destined  to  fall  a  prey  to  "  hostile 
waves  of  flame." 

There  towered  the  hall 
high  and  horned ;  the  hot  waves  biding 
of  angry  flame.  .  .  .2 

1 ". . .  accenso  quidem  foco  in  medio  et  calido  effecto  cenaculo " 

Beda,  Ecc.  Hist.  II.  13.  2  Beoiv.  81  f. 


1) 


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The  fine  fragment  of  Finnshurg  alludes  to  this  as  a 
common  fate  of  castles  ;  while  for  Old  Norse,  Loki  at 
the  end  of  his  famous  flyting  predicts  a  like  destiny 
for  the  hall  where  he  has  been  feasting.^  In  the  Nial- 
saga,  most  dramatic  of  all  the  Icelandic  stories,  we  are 
told  how  the  avengers,  letting  "housecarls"  and 
women  and  children  first  go  out,  set  Nial's  house  in 
flames.  Similar  flames,  but  on  a  far  grander  scale, 
and  with  an  epic  splendor,  light  up  the  tragic  close 
of  the  Nibelungen  Lay.  Moreover,  even  if  earthly 
flame  spared,  one  had  to  reckon  with  the  heavens. 
Lightning  made  sad  havoc,  and  the  Saxon  Chronicle 
tells  how  one  year  "  the  wild  fire "  destroyed  a  vast 
amount  of  propert3\' 

The  proportion  of  adornment  to  utility  in  the  Ger- 
man's dress  gives  us  a  hint  of  what  we  may  expect  in 
his  house.  Frail  as  his  dwelling  might  be,  and  built 
for  the  simplest  need,  it  nevertheless  showed  an  incip- 
ient decoration ;  and  he  began  to  adorn  it  long  before 
he  had  made  what  we  should  call  the  merest  begin- 
nings of  comfort.  We  learn  from  Tacitus  that  the 
Germanic  house  was  painted  here  and  there  with  a 
glistening  color,  which  was  obtained  from  the  earth, 
—  probably  of  the  description  still  found  in  the 
"  ochre-swamps  "  of  the  Harz  region ;  but  whether 
this  painting  was  exterior  or  interior,  or  both,  is 
hard  to  understand  from  the  diflicult  passage  of  the 
Grermania,^    In  any  case,  the  early  German  painted  his 

1  Lokasenna,  65,  Edda,  ed.  Hildebrand. 

2  Our  ballads  are  often  as  vivid  as  the  sagas.  See  "  Edom  O'Gor- 
don,"  "The  Fire  of  Frendraught,"  and  other  songs  of  the  border. 
Child,  Ballads,2  VI.,  VII. 

8  Cap.  XVI.    QusBdam  loca,  he  says,  "  certain  parts." 


If. 


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'Si 


11 ! 


# 


dwelling.  Later,  he  carved  the  woodwork  of  it  into  fan- 
tastic forms,  an  art  which  found  its  best  development  in 
certain  parts  of  Germany  and  in  the  wooden  churches 
and  houses  of  Norway;   and  he  adorned  the  inner 

walls  with  paintings  and  even  with  tapestry, the 

latter  an  imported  luxury.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  in 
the  oldest  times  shield  and  spear  and  other  weapons 
were  hung  upon  the  wall,  with  trophies  of  the  raid 
and  of  the  chase. 

Whatever  the  primitive  house,  development  was 
rapid ;  for  war,  and  captivity,  and  service  in  Roman 
legions,  put  many  a  new  notion  under  the  Germanic 
helmet.  Tricks  of  fortification  were  learnt  from  the 
imperial  engineers ;  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  our 
Angles  and  Saxons  made  extensive  use  of  the  mili- 
tary improvements  which  Rome  had  given  to  her 
province.  The  "  street "  (strata  via}  and  the  "  cea- 
ster  "  (castra)  were  soon  borrowed,  thing  and  word ; 
and  in  BSowulf  we  are  told  that  the  road  which  led 

up   to   Hrothgar's   burg  was   "stone-variegated," 

strait  wcBS  stdnfdh,  —  paved  in  the  Roman  fashion ; 
although  it  is  plain  that,  as  with  stone  in  houses,  so 
with  these  paved  roads,  the  Germanic  instinct  re- 
garded the  process  as  something  uncanny  and  savor- 
ing of  those  mysterious  giants  who  long  ago  had 
rolled  up  the  huge  piles  of  masonry.  So  we  read  in 
Andreas :  —  ^ 

Manful  they  marched  by  mountain-dales, 
stout  of  heart  o'er  the  stony  cliffs, 
as  far  as  ran  the  roads  before  them, 
once  built  by  giants,  the  burgs  within, 
,     stone-gay  streets.  .  .  . 

1  Wulker-Grein,  Bibliothek  d.  Ags.  Poesie,  11.  v.  1232  ff. 


These  roads  are  referred  to  the  same  source  as  cer- 
tain pillars  and  statues  of  stone  which  are  mentioned 
in  the  same  poem,  and  are  called  by  this  stereotyped 
phrase,  "  old  work  of  giants,"  —  eald  enta  geweorc} 

While  wall  and  ditch  were  soon  adopted  for  pur- 
poses of  defence,  the  burg  was  often  put  upon  a  hill, 
or  in  some  equally  commanding  place.  In  Anglo- 
Saxon  poetry,  the  burg  is  called  "  lofty,"  "  steep  "  ;  it 
stands  on  "  the  hoary  stone."  ^  A  wall,  of  whatever 
material,  soon  encircled  the  place ;  tiin^  "  town,"  is 
like  German  zaun^  a  fence  or  hedge  ;  and  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  the  word  eodor^  "hedge  or  wall,"  soon  passes 
into  the  general  notion  of  house  or  fortified  place ; 
while  in  poetical  speech  the  prince  is  called  eodor  of 
his  subjects,  their  shelter.  We  have  to  distinguish 
between  the  "  door  "  and  the  "  gate,"  the  latter  being 
a  most  important  strategic  point,  where  the  hottest 
struggle  of  a  siege  was  mostly  fought.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle,  in  what  Sweet  calls  "the  oldest 
historical  prose  in  any  Teutonic  language,"  gives  us 
a  vivid  account  of  the  siege  of  a  king  who  is  visiting 
at  a  house  in  Merton.  It  is  set  down  for  the  year 
755.  The  king  has  come  to  see  a  woman,  and  is 
with  her  in  her  bower  (iwr),  when  an  enemy  of  his, 
one  Cyneheard,  comes  up  with  a  besieging  party, 
breaks  through  the  "  gate  "  and  surrounds  the  bower 
itself.  The  king,  aware  of  the  danger,  comes  to  the 
door,  fights  manfully  and  with  success,  until  he  spies 
his  foe,  the  "  aetheling,"  and  so  in  sudden  rage,  rushes 
out  upon  him,  away  from  the  vantage-ground  of  the 
door.      They  all  set  upon  the  king  and  kill   him. 

1  Andreas,  1495. 

2  Heyne,  work  quoted,  p.  9;  Vilmar,  Altert.  im  Eel.  p.  10. 


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Alarmed  by  cries  of  the  woman,  the  king's  thanes, 
who  form  his  body-guard,  come  running  up,  —  pre- 
sumably from  the  hall,  of  which  the  bower  was  a  de- 
pendency, —  and  vainly  fight  the  besiegers,  falling  all 
of  them  about  the  dead  body  of  their  lord.     Next 
morning  the  tables  are  turned;   up  ride  the  roused 
thanes  and  soldiers  of  the  king;  the  late  besiegers 
shut  the  gates,  and  are  in  turn  besieged,  stormed,  and 
cut  down,  —  all  save  one.      It  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
English  house  of  755  has  made  considerable  progress 
from  the  Germanic  house  described  by  Tacitus,  for 
an  active  race  does  not  stand  still  during  six  centu- 
ries, even  to  be  photographed ;  and  yet  the  dwelling 
preserves  many  of  the  old  characteristics.    The  bower, 
detached  from  the  hall,  must  have  been  fairly  primi- 
tive; and  very  early,  we  may  think,  provision  was 
made  for  the  domestic  animals.     True,  in  the  houses 
of  ordinary  men,  as  still  in  some  peasant-dwellings  of 
Europe,  man  and  beast  lived  under  one  roof ;  but  the 
home  of  chief  or  king  must  have  been  from  the  first 
independent  of  the  domestic  apartment  and  the  stalls 
for  cattle.     In  this  case,  we  have  to  imagine  the  hall, 
with  its  sacred  associations,  its  hearth  and  its  fire,  in 
the  middle  of  a  group  of  buildings  ;i  nearest  to  it, 
and  sometimes  part  of  it,  were  the  sleeping-rooms, 
then  store-houses,  bake-houses,  barns,  treasure-house. 
Such  a  group  of  houses,  with  a  gradually  increasing 
family  to  occupy  them,  lying  in  open  country,  and 
protected  by  a  hedge  or  wall,  was  a  tdn  ("  town  ")  or 
a  hdm  ;  when  it  was  a  fortified  place,  high,  a  home 
of  warriors,  it  was  a  hur^.     However,  as  Heyne  re- 

1  The  plural  is  often  used  in  speaking  of  a  single  place :  on  burgum. 
See  Heyne,  p.  38. 


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101 


marks,  this  distinction  is  not  constant.^  The  hurg 
might  hold  a  single  family  or  a  whole  city  full ; 
and  A«7?i,  tun^  hurg^  and  hyrig  are  all  used  indis- 
criminately in  the  names  of  later  English  towns. 
With  the  rise  of  towns,  we  bid  farewell  to  primitive 
Germanic  relations,  and  note  not  only  the  use  of 
older  walls  and  roads,  but  imitation  of  Roman  archi- 
tecture. In  this  imitation,  Anglo-Saxons  were  far 
more  apt  than  their  brothers  on  the  Continent ; 
though  it  must  be  conceded  that  with  all  his  borrow- 
ings, the  Englishman  kept  a  certain  independence ; 
and  while  his  language  and  his  verse  show  material 
taken  wholesale  from  classics  or  Romance,  yet  the 
heart  of  his  speech,  and  the  pulse  of  his  poetry  re- 
mained Germanic.  There  is,  however,  scarcely  any 
material  left  to  form  a  basis  for  our  judgment  in  the 
matter  of  oldest  English  houses.  Of  the  so-called 
Saxon  architecture,  very  little  has  come  down  to  us ; 
and  these  meagre  remains,  says  Liibke,^  "  remind  one 
more  of  the  carpenter  than  of  the  mason."  Elaborate 
buildings,  such  as  church  or  palace,  were  erected  by 
workmen  from  abroad.  How  many  of  these  foreign 
elements  had  crept  into  the  Anglo-Saxon  notion  of  a 
royal  burg  at  the  time  when  the  materials  of  Beoivulf 
were  drifting  together,  or  even  how  far  the  poet  of 
that  epic  added  his  own  ideas  to  the  traditional  ac- 
count of  Heorot,  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  deter- 
mine ;  in  any  case,  we  must  remember  that  the  his- 
torical events  of  BSowulf  are  removed  from  the  time 

1  Work  quoted,  p.  9.  See  also  Kemble,  Saxons,  II.  550  ff.  He  gives 
a  list  of  the  towns  mentioned  in  the  Chronicle.  Significant  is  the  word 
msegburh  as  used  to  indicate  the  collective  notion  of  a  family,  the  clan 
in  a  narrow  sense. 

2  In  an  essay  on  Gothic  Architecture,  in  the  Zeits.  f.  Vdlkerpsycho- 
logie  11.S.IV.  II.  266. 


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10.^ 


of  Tacitus  by  four  hundred  years,  although  the  north- 
ern heathens  would  naturally  preserve  old  traditions 
much  longer  than  the  converted  border  tribes.  Let 
us  assume  that  the  burg  itself,  —  the  complex  of  build- 
ings,—  as  described  in  Beowulf^  is  modernized;  but 
why  should  not  the  hall  be  authentic?  We  will 
simply  transcribe  Heyne's  account  of  the  burg  of 
Hrothgar,  and  then  return  to  our  study  of  the  Ger- 
manic hall. 

This  burg,  probably  surrounded  with  a  wall,  is  the 
home  of  the  royal  race  of  the  Scyldings,  or  sons  of 
Scyld;  and  here,  with  thane  and  thrall,  with  queen, 
children,  relatives,  and  slaves,  lives  King  Hrothgar. 
Chief  of  all  the  buildings  is  the  hall ;  and  near  it  is, 
of  course,  the  bower  of  the  queen,  the  hrpd-hi1.r^  where 
she  and  her  children  spend  their  time,  whenever  some 
particular  occasion  does  not  call  her  into  the  hall,  to 
greet  a  guest  at  the  banquet,  or  to  bear  the  first 
beaker  to  her  lord.  "  Hall  and  Bower  "  long  remains 
an  evident  metonymy  for  Lord  and  Lady,  —  as  in 
Wordsworth's  famous  sonnet.^  To  this  bower,  more- 
over, comes  the  king  at  night  when  he  has  closed  the 
banquet  in  the  hall :  — 

Then  Hrothgar  went  with  host  of  thanes, 
"  shelter  of  Scyldings  "  2  stept  from  hall, 
warrior  mighty  would  Wealhtheow  seek, 
couch  of  his  queen.  .  .  .» 

Scattered  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  bower,  and  thus 
submitted  to  the  oversight  of  the  mistress,  lay  those 

1  To  Milton :  — 

"  Altar,  sword,  and  pen, 
Fireside,  the  heroic  wealth  of  hall  and  bower.  .  .  ." 


other  domestic  buildings  for  store  and  kine  and  cook- 
ing of  food,  which  are  below  the  dignity  of  epic 
mention.  A  special  house,  however,  is  named  as 
affording  accommodation  for  Beowulf  and  his  com- 
panions. Finally,  on  a  cliff  overlooking  the  sea,  is  a 
sort  of  fortified  watch-tower,  whence  the  strand-ward 
and  his  men  keep  sentry  over  the  ocean  approaches 
and  guard  the  burg  from  surprise  of  sudden  raids. 
Such  is  the  Germanic  burg  as  painted  in  an  epic  of 
the  seventh  century ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  shut  our 
eyes  to  a  certain  touch  of  the  mediaeval  castle  in 
some  of  these  arrangements,  let  the  background  be  as 
primitive  as  one  please :  the  "  stone-gay  "  path  from 
the  sea  to  the  palace,  the  courteous  challenge  of  the 
strand-ward  as  Beowulf's  ship  comes  to  shore,  and 
the  highly  parliamentary  answer  of  the  chieftain, — 
these  must  be  outward  flourishes  of  the  story,  added 
by  the  monkish  poet  who  was  fain  to  let  some  bit  of 
southern  color  fall  upon  this  passing  sombre  legend 
of  the  north.  If  when,  after  the  song  of  the  min- 
strel in  Hrothgar's  hall,  — 

The  bench-joy  brightened,  bearers  drew 


wine  from  wonder-vats. 


•     •     • 


2  Kenning  or  metaphor  for  a  prince. 


8  B^oiv.  662  ff. 


and  the  revellers  thus  forget  their  Germanic  beer,  we 
know  that  many  other  departures  from  the  primitive 
order  must  be  reckoned  with  in  our  epic. 

Such  beautifyings  might  be  tolerated  in  the  vaguer 
architecture  and  the  unimportant  details,  but  when 
it  comes  to  the  hall  itself,  the  scene  of  that  struggle 
between  hero  and  monster  which  had  doubtless 
formed  the  subject  of  more  than  one  old  ballad,  here, 

1  Beow,  1161  f. 


ifi 


1fti 


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i 


in  a  locality  connected  at  every  turn  with  tradition, 
we  may  expect  the  primitive  arrangement. 

The  hall  Heorot  or  "  Hart,"  probably  named  so  on 
account  of  the  antlers  which  adorn  its  gables,  differs 
from  the  usual  centre  and  nucleus  of  a  Germanic 
home,  in  that  it  lies  outside  the  walls  of  the  burg. 
The  old  hall  had  been  within ;  but  riches  and  power 
incline  the  king  to  build  a  new  one,  which  shall  out- 
shine anything  of  the  sort  ever  known  to  man ;  and 
since  within  the  enclosure  there  is  no  room  for  such 
an  edifice,  it  is  built  nearer  the  sea,  and  probably  on 
lower  ground.  The  material  is  wood;  the  general 
plan  an  oblong.  Massive  pieces  of  timber  are  held 
together  by  iron  clamps,  and  rest,  if  we  are  to  follow 
Heyne,  upon  a  stone  foundation.  If  so,  these  are 
modern  touches.  We  are  told  that  the  floor  was 
gleaming,  bright,  of  variegated  colors,  — 

On  glittering  floor  the  fiend  then  trod.^ 

It  would  seem  that  there  were  two  doors,  one  at  each 
end  of  the  building;  and  this  is  borne  out  by  the 
often-quoted  passage  from  Beda :  "  So  seems  to  me, 
O  king,  man's  life  in  this  world  compared  with  that 
which  we  do  not  know,  as  if  you  were  sitting  at  meat 
among  your  thanes  and  nobles  in  the  winter  time, 
with  a  fire  burning  in  the  midst,  and  the  hall  full  of 
warmth  and  light,  but  outside  a  raging  storm  of 
wind  and  snow,  —  and  a  sparrow  should  fly  swiftly  in 
by  one  door,  and  presently  fly  out  again  by  the 
other.  .  .  ."'-^ 

1  B^ow.  725. 

2  Hist.  Ecc.  II.  13.  A  briefer  and  more  spirited  rendering  is  Green's 
in  the  Shorter  History  of  England.  Wordsworth  has  put  the  speech 
into  verse,  Ecclesiastical  Sonnets,  XVI. 


I 


\ 


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The  hall  was  entered  on  a  level,  or  by  a  very  few 
steps ;  for,  as  Heyne  points  out,  the  hoi-ses  which  are 
presented  to  Beowulf  as  a  reward  for  his  gallantry, 
are  led  directly  into  the  hall ;  and  we  may  add  the 
later  custom  mentioned  in  an  English  ballad,  where, 
by  the  way,  the  gift  of  an  arm-ring  has  a  decidedly 
ancient  flavor :  — 

King  Estmere  he  stabled  his  steede 

Soe  fay  re  att  the  hall-bord ; 
The  froth  that  came  from  his  brydle  bitte 

Light  in  Kyng  Bremor's  beard. ^ 

Professor  Child  gives  abundant  references  to  older 
literature  which  support  the  custom,  the  most  familiar 
being  from  the  Squire's  Tale  :  — 

Whil  that  the  kyng  sit  thus  .  .  . 

In  atte  halle  dore  sodeynly 

Ther  com  a  knight  upon  a  steed  of  bras.^ 

Outside  of  the  hall  and  along  the  wall,  in  which  was 
the  principal  door,  ran  a  row  of  benches  ;  here  sit 
Beowulf  and  his  men  until  admitted  to  an  audience 
with  the  king,  and  here  they  stack  their  "gray- 
tipped"  spears.  The  roof  and  outer  walls  were 
probably  painted  in  gay  colors,  a  development  of 
the  art  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  and  practised  in  the 
middle  ages  by  the  builder  of  a  German  castle.^ 
Our  poem  insists  on  the  fact  that  Heorot  "glistens," 
"  shines  far  over  the  land  " :  it  is  once  called  "  gold- 
gay,"  and  some  have  thought  of  a  tile-roof  in  different 
colors,  or  even  that  the  roof  was  plated  with  actual 
gold.     But  we  need  assume  nothing  more  than  the 


1  Child,  Ballads,2  II.  51,  54. 
3  Heyne,  p.  44. 


2  Aldine  ed.  Chaucer,  II.  357. 


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Germanic  trick  known  to  Tacitus.  Huge  antlers 
decked  the  gable.  All  burgs,  it  would  seem,  had 
such  a  decoration.  Both  the  Anglo-Saxon  author  of 
Andreas  and  the  Old  Saxon  poet  of  the  Heliand  speak 
even  of  the  temple  and  houses  of  Jerusalem  as  fur- 
nished with  these  "  horns."  An  Anglo-Saxon  riddle  ^ 
has  such  a  horn  for  subject.  A  picture  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  house,  reproduced  in  Wright's  book^  from  a 
manuscript  of  the  ninth  century,  shows  the  roof  of 
a  building  which  must  be  the  "  hall,"  adorned  with 
a  stag's  head  and  antlers.  The  windows  of  the  Ger- 
manic hall  had,  of  course,  no  glass ;  ^  they  were  high 
up  in  the  wall,  or  even  in  the  roof  itself.  In  simpler 
halls  the  smoke  of  fires  escaped  as  it  could,  through 
door  or  window ;  but  there  was  often  an  opening  in 
the  roof  directly  over  the  fire,  protected  from  rain  by 
another  and  smaller  roof  above. 

Within,  the  hall  is  supported  by  a  single  central 
pillar,  which,  as  Henning  tells  us,^  is  one  of  the  oldest 
characteristics  of  the  Aryan  house.  Such  was  the 
olive  tree  about  which  Odysseus  fashioned  his  sleep- 
ing-room;^ such  the  huge  oak  in  the  hall  of  the 
Volsungs,  into  which  Odin  thrust  the  sword.  For 
the  king  there  is  a  special  "High  Seat,"  which  in 
Heorot,  Heyne  thinks,  was  placed  at  this  central 
pillar;^    in  Scandinavian  halls  it  was   put   on  the 

1  No.  85  of  the  so-called  Riddles  of  Cynewulf. 

2  Domestic  Manners,  etc.,  p.  15. 

8  It  was  introduced  in  England,  for  church  purposes,  about  676. 
Heyne,  p.  46. 

^Das  deutsche  Hmis,  p.  171.  5  Odyssey,  XXIII.  190  ff. 

«  Against  this  view,  see  Sarrazin,  in  his  somewhat  futile  Beowulf- 
studien,  p.  19.  He  claims  Beoioulf  as  a  Scandinavian  poem,  and  says 
Heorot  is  "plainly  a  Scandinavian  tavern." 


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north  side.     A  second  seat  or  bench  of  distinction, 
probably   opposite   the   throne,   was   meant   for   the 
prince  and  royal  guests,  like  Beowulf.     The  High 
Seat  had  room  for  two  persons  besides  the  king, — 
the  queen  and  his  nephew ;  while  at  his  feet,  on  a  sort 
of  dais,  lay  the  thyle^  a  combination  of  master  of  the 
revels,  orator,  poet  laureate,  and  jester.     Inasmuch 
as  the  kin-system  was  the  unit  of  Germanic  life,  the 
head  of  a  house  needed  every  conspicuous  sign  of 
authority ;  and  this  High  Seat  was  no  kingly  symbol 
alone,  but  was  used  by  each  householder.     It  was 
probably  found  in  all  Germanic  houses,  no  matter  how 
rudimentary  its  grandeur;  and  it  may  still  be  seen 
in  the  cottages  of   Scandinavian  peasants.     On  the 
death  of  a  householder,  the  eldest  son  took  possession 
of  this  seat  with  all  pomp  and  ceremony,  and  dis- 
pensed the  hospitalities  of  his  house  to  relatives  and 
friends.     If   he  were  chieftain   or  prince,  he  would 
thenceforth,  sitting  on  this  throne,  called  from  such 
associations  gifstol^  or  gift-seat,  bestow  on  vassal  or 
neighbor  the  ring  which  he  twisted  from  its  spiral, 
or  some  other  piece  of  treasure,  even  the  right  to 
hold  estates  in  land,  —  and  so  gladden  the  hearts  of 
his  retainers.     Last  stage  of  all,  we  find  this  gift-seat 
in  the  tomb.     The  Scandinavian  sepulchre  was  some- 
times built  like  a  house,  the  freeman's  final  and  per- 
manent ''hall,"  where  he  is   now  and   then  found 
sitting  on  the  High  Seat  and  ruling  over  his  ghostly 
home.i 

About  the  other  sides  of  the  hall  were  tapestries, 
of  course  no  primitive  adornment,  though  not  neces- 

1  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  498.    See  also  the  description  of  the 
tomb  of  Charlemagne. 


f ; 


108 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


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109 


sarily  late  in  the  history  of  Germanic  decoration.  In 
BSowulf  they  are  called  weh :  ^  — 

.  .  .  Gold-gay  shone 
webs  along  walls,  wonders  many 
for  sight  of  the  heroes  that  stare  at  such. 

The  use  of  "  weaving  "  in  many  figures  of  speech,  — 
as  "  peace-weaver  "  for  "  wife,"  ^  —  together  with  the 
analogy  of  ornaments  in  dress,  allows  us  the  inference 
that  rude  tapestries  may  have  ornamented  the  Ger- 
manic hall  in  comparatively  early  times.  Under  the 
tapestries,  and  adorned  with  carvings  or  even  with 
gold,  ran  the  benches  of  the  retainers,  the  trusty  vas- 
sals of  the  king,  who  drank  his  mead  or  ale,  feasted 
and  sang,  and  shared  his  treasures.  These  treasures 
were  doubtless  kept  in  the  hall  itself  under  a  picked 
guard,  or  else  were  assigned  to  a  fortified  separate 
building. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  date  of  our  poem,  but  remem- 
bering as  well  the  conservative  nature  of  custom  and 
of  the  traditions  of  social  or  family  life,  let  us  glance 
a  moment  at  the  picturesque  scene  which  the  poet  of 
BSowulf  shows  us  in  Heorot. 

Ranged  along  the  walls  are  the  benches  filled  with 
vassals,  warriors  old  and  young,  —  as  the  old  English 
phrase  ran,  dugw6  and  geogd^^  —  who  drink  from  horn 
or  cup,  replenished  by  servants  who  hasten  with  ves- 
sels of  ale  about  the  room.  On  the  throne  sits  the 
king,  and  at  his  feet  lounges  Hunferth  the  ihyle, 
Beowulf  is  announced,  and  his  peaceful  message ; 
the  king  bids  his  chamberlain  go  back,  see  that  the 

1  Beow.  994  ff. 

2  See  Bode,  Die  Kenningar  in  der  Ays.  Dichtung,  p.  48. 


weapons  are  stacked  without,  and  usher  in  the  guests. 
Leaving  a  small  guard  over  spears  and  shields,  Beo- 
wulf and  his  men,  clad  in  their  armor  and  helmets, 
enter  the  hall.  Then  Beowulf  salutes  the  king, 
tells  his  name  with  a  brave  deed  or  two  by  way  of 
credentials,  and  announces  the  purpose  of  his  visit.^ 

Then  the  warriors  went  as  the  way  was  showed  them 

under  Heorot's  roof ;  the  hero  stepped 

hardy  'neath  helm,  till  the  hearth  ^  he  neared  ; 

Beowulf  spake  —  his  breastplate  shone, 

war-net  woven  by  wit  of  the  smith  :  — 

«  Thou  Hrothgar,  Hail !  Higelac's  I, 

his  kinsman  and  follower  ;  fame  a  plenty 

have  I  gaiu'd  in  youth.     This  Grendel-deed 

in  my  native  land  is  known  full  well. 

Seafarers  say  how  stands  this  hall, 

best  of  houses,  for  heroes  now 

empty  and  useless,  when  even-light 

in  the  harbor  ^  of  heaven  is  hidden  away. 

Then  my  retainers  told  me  this, — 

brave  and  wise,  the  best  of  men, — 

that  I,  O  King,  should  come  to  thee ; 

for  my  nerve  and  might  they  knew  right  well. 

Themselves  had  seen  me  from  slaughter  come, 

blood-fleck'd  from  foes,  where  five  *  I  bound, 

wasted  the  giants  :  i'  the  waves  I  slew 

nicors  by  night,  in  need  and  stress, 

1  This  long  extract  from  Beowulf  is  given  not  only  for  its  illustra- 
tion of  the  ways  of  a  Germanic  hall,  but  also  on  account  of  its  allusions 
to  other  parts  of  our  subject.  The  author  is  responsible  for  these,  as 
for  other  translations  from  Anglo-Saxon  which  occur  in  the  book. 

2  Reading  heor^e  for  heofie  :  see  Holder,  Beoiculf,  and  others. 

8  Reading  hador  for  heatSor  '*  receptaculum,"  with  Grein  {Sprachs. 
II.  40)  and  Heyne.  WUlker-Grein,  Bihl.  and  Holder  read  hador  =  "  bright- 
ness." Grendel,  the  monster,  came  to  plunder  the  hall  every  night,  and 
killed  any  whom  he  found  there. 

4  Owing  to  discrepancy  of  this  and  the  narrative  below,  Bugge  would 
read  "  on  the  monster-sea  "  —  the  sea  that  breeds  monsters.  See  Paul- 
Braune,  Beit.  XII.  367. 


N 


110  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

avenged  the  Weders  ^  for  woes  they  bore, 

crush'd  the  griin-ones.  —  Greiidel  now, 

monster  direful,  is  mine  to  quell 

in  single  battle.  —  And  so  from  thee. 

Prince  of  the  Danes,  I  pray  indeed, 

thou  Scyldings'  Bulwark,  a  single  boon ;  — 

refuse  it  not,  O  thou  Friend  of  Clans, 

Warriors'  Shield, ^  now  I've  wandered  far: 

that  I  alone  with  my  liegemen  here, 

a  hardy  band,  may  Heorot  purge  I 

More  I  hear,  that  the  monster  dire 

in  his  w^anton  mood  no  weapon  recketh ; 

hence  shall  I  scorn  —  so  Higelac  bide, 

king  of  my  people,  kind  to  me  !  — 

brand  or  broad  shield  to  bear  in  fight, 

no  golden  ^  targe ;  but  with  grip  alone 

must  I  front  the  fiend  and  fight  for  life, 

foe  against  foe.     There  faith  be  his 

in  the  doom  of  God  whom  death  shall  take ! 

I  ween  that  fain  —  if  the  fight  he  win  — 

in  battle-hall  my  band  of  Jutes 

will  he  eat  unfearing,  as  oft  before  * 

the  main  of  Hrethmen.^  — For  me,  then,  needless 

to  hide  my  head ;  ^  his  shall  I  be, 

dyed  in  gore  if  death  shall  take  me. 

The  bloody  booty  he  bears  afar, 

ruthless  devours  it,  the  Roamer  Lonely, 

1  Sc.  the  Weder-Geatas,  Jutes  (according  to  some,  Swedes) ,  the  race  to 
which  Beowulf  belongs. 

2  Notice  the  complimentary  heaping  of  metaphors  for  the  king's 
person. 

8  Yellow ;  the  color  of  the  linden  bast  with  which  the  shield  was 
covered.    (Heyne.) 

*  Sc.  *'  he  ate."  "Main  "  (A.  S.  rnasgen)  =  "  chief  power."  "  Goes 
it  against  the  main  of  Poland,  sir  ?  "  Hamlet,  IV.  4. 

fi  Danes,  the  men  of  Hrothgar  whom  Grendel  has  previously  de- 
stroyed. 

6  These  words  are  interpreted  by  some  (see  Heyne's  note  in  his  5th 
ed.)  to  mean:  "I  ask  thee  to  give  me  no  guard  of  honor  this  night;  I 
will  meet  the  foe  alone."  Others  refer  it  to  burial;  "Grendel  will 
devour  me,  and  hence  I  shall  need  no  grave." 


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111 


marking  the  moorlands  :  ^  no  more  thou  need'st 

for  food  of  my  body  further  care. 

To  Higelac  send,  if  Hild  2  shall  take  me, 

noblest  war-weeds  warding  my  breast, 

fairest  armor,  heirloom  of  Hrethel, 

and  work  of  Wayland  »  .  .  .  fares  Wyrd  *  as  she  must."  — 

Hrothgar  spake,  Helmet  of  Scyldings :  — 

"  For  fight  defensive,  friend  my  Beowulf, 

for  sake  of  helping,  hast  sought  us  here. 

Fought  thy  father  ^  a  feud  unequalled ; 

Heatholaf  with  his  hand  he  slew 

among  the  Wylfings ;  Weder  kin 

failed  to  hold  him  for  fear  of  the  host. 

Thence  he  sought  the  South-Dane  folk, 

over  wallowing  waters  the  well-thewed  Scyldings, 

when  first  I  was  wielding  folk  of  the  Danes, 

youthful  ruled  o'er  the  rich  in  gems, 

hoard-burg  of  heroes.     Was  Heregar  dead, 

my  elder  brother  had  breathed  his  last, 

Healfdene's  bairn :  he  was  better  than  I. 

Then  the  feud  with  fee  I  settled,® 

to  the  Wylfings  sent  o'er  the  water-ridges 

treasures  olden  :  oaths  he  swore  me. 

Sore  is  my  soul  to  say  to  any 

of  the  race  of  men  what  ruth  for  me 

1  Sc.  with  blood.  2  Battle,  death  in  battle  personified. 

*  Wayland  Smith.  Weland  was  the  Germanic  Vulcan,  of  whom  more 
under  the  head  of  Industries ;  his  legend  is  well  known  in  all  Germanic 
poetry,  and  is  referred  to  in  our  oldest  English  lyric,  The  Consolations 
of  the  Minstrel  Deor. 

^  This  whole  passage,  stamped  with  primitive  Germanic  marks,  is 
replete  with  mythologic  interest,  though  the  elegiac  and  mournful  tone 
is  specifically  Anglo-Saxon.  Wyrd  (=  that  which  is  accomplished)  is 
Fate,  a  Germanic  goddess;  compare  "  To  dree  one's  weird." 

^  Hrothgar  at  once  shows  his  knowledge  of  royal  histories  and  gene- 
alogies, a  great  point  with  the  Germanic  chieftains.  In  the  Hildebrand 
Lay,  old  Master  Hildebrand,  when  he  unwittingly  meets  his  son,  and 
asks  the  name  of  his  opponent's  father,  says  proudly :  **  If  thou  namest 
one  to  me,  I  shall  know  the  rest;  boy,  in  the  kingdom  all  folk  are 
known  to  me! " 

6  By  paying  the  Wergild.    See  p.  178. 


112  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

in  Heorot  Grendel  with  hate  hath  wrought, 

what  sudden  harryings.    Hall-folk  ^  here, 

my  warriors  wane  ;  Wyrd  hath  swept  them 

into  Grendel's  terror :  God  is  able 

the  deadly  foe  from  his  deeds  to  turn. 

Full  often  boasted  the  beer-drunk  earls, 

over  the  ale-cup,  armed  men, 

that  they  would  bide  in  the  beer-hall  here 

Grendel's  onset,  with  edged  terrors.^ 

Then  was  the  mead-hall  at  morning-tide 

dyed  with  gore  when  daylight  broke, 

all  of  the  benches  blood-besprinkled, 

with  gore  of  the  sword :  I  had  guards  the  less, 

darling  clansmen,  whom  death  had  seized." 

With  these  speeches,  the  king  and  his  noble  guest 
have  put  themselves  on  the  proper  terms,  and  Hroth- 
gar  proceeds  to  bid  a  feast. 

"  Sit  now  to  banquet,  unbind  from  restraint 
victor-heroes  as  heart  shall  prompt  thee."  ^ 
There  for  the  joined  Jutish  band, 
in  banquet-room  was  a  bench  assigned, 
whither  the  warriors  went  to  sit, 
lofty-thoughted.*    A  thane  attended, 
who  carried  in  hand  the  carven  ale-cup, 
clear  mead  poured  out ;  oft  minstrel  sang, 
cheerly  in  Heorot ;  heroes  revelled, 
warriors  many,  Weder  and  Dane. 

The  songs  sung  to  harp  or  zither^  by  such  a  min- 
strel were  sometimes,  it  is  true,  gnomic  verses  full  of 

1  Vassals,  retainers;  those  who  dwelt  in  the  hall. 

2  Would  await  him  with  drawn  swords. 

8  Evident  parallel  of  our  "  Make  yourselves  at  home."  Other  inter- 
pretations in  Heyne's  note,  5th  ed. 

4  Men  who  thought  of  noble  deeds ;  bold-hearted, 
s  Symons,  in  Paul,  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  1.  p.  7. 


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113 


proverbial  wisdom,^  but  mostly,  as  befitted  a  warrior 
throng,  ballads  of  heroic  or  mythic  acts  done  by 
members  or  ancestors  of  the  clan ;  or  else  —  for  the 
family  stock  of  songs  would  easily  grow  too  familiar 
—  some  legend  of  other  Germanic  tribes  would  be 
eagerly  greeted,  like  the  song  sung  by  one  of  these 
minstrels  attached  to  Hrothgar's  court  as  the  men 
are  riding  up  to  the  hall,  after  the  combat  of  Beowulf 
and  Grendel.^    Personal  compliment  would  have  its 

1  Such  are,  in  late  guise,  the  gnomic  verses  preserved  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  poetry ;  this  proverbial  poetry  was  very  popular,  and  it  is  easy 
to  justify  the  ways  of  Tupper  by  the  practice  of  our  ancestors. 

2  Very  few  words  will  be  in  place  concerning  the  nature  of  Ger- 
manic poetry.  Its  chief  fault  is  lack  of  artistic  finish;  it  has  "more 
matter  and  less  art "  than  the  poetry  with  which  we  are  familiar.  Its 
development  in  respect  of  form  and  style  was  rudely  checked  by  the 
conversion,  and  never  came  to  maturity.  I  have  elsewhere  made  bold 
to  apply  to  this  early  poetry  of  ours  those  infinitely  pathetic  words  of 
Groethe's  Mignon :  — 

Vor  Kummer  altert'  ich  zu  friihe. 

Sorrow  made  it  old  before  its  time.  But  for  the  facts.  Of  course,  the 
material  is  human  speech,  and  many  words  used  in  poetry  were  used  in 
daily  life.  Substantives,  not  verbs,  are  the  chief  consideration.  A  cer- 
tain number  of  words,  however,  constituted  by  their  solemn  and  formal 
nature  an  exclusively  poetical  vocabulary,  and  these  joined  with  certain 
artistic  factors  to  make  up  our  old  poetry.  Rhythm  is  the  chief  of 
these  factors ;  tone-color,  the  second ;  parallelism  of  phrase  is  a  third. 
Sievers  has  shown  a  far  greater  regularity  in  Germanic  rhythm  than 
was  suspected  by  older  scholars.  With  certain  subordinate  regulations 
of  quantity  and  balance,  the  main  law  of  our  old  poetry  called  for  a 
verse  which  fell  into  halves, —in  each  half  two  accented  syllables. 
These  verse-accented  syllables  must  also  be  word-accented;  in  other 
phrase,  the  rhythmic  accent  coincided  with  the  syntactical  or  logical, 

—  the  distinguishing  element  of  all  Germanic  poetry.  Scherer  says 
that  this  desire  to  force  home  the  root-syllables,  the  sounds  which  bore 
the  sense,  was  due  to  the  passionately  earnest  character  of  the  race. 
To  bind  together  the  two  halves  of  the  verse,  tone-color  was  employed, 

—  what  we  call  alliteration  or  beginning-rhyme.  The  first  accented 
syllable  of  the  second  half  was  standard ;  with  the  initial  sound  of  this 
syllable  must  rhyme  one,  and  might  rhyme  both,  of  the  accented  syl- 


It  *l 


■J 

J 
^1 


If 


114 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


place.  On  this  occasion  in  question,  we  may  fancy- 
that  some  deed  of  Beowulf,  or  of  a  member  of  his 
kin,  was  sung  amid  the  enthusiasm  of  the  warriors 
and  their  guests,  with  shouts  of  applause  and  remem- 
bered delight  of  battle,  with  copious  Sowings  of  the 
ale.  But  Beowulf  has  another  proof  to  endure.  The 
tht/le,  or  king's  master  of  the  revels,  is  not  at  his  post 
in  vain ;  and  the  guest  is  to  be  put  to  his  mettle  in 
one  of  those  flytings,  or  contests  of  wit,  which  seem 
to  have  been  so  popular,  especially  among  the  Scan- 
dinavians. Lolling  at  his  chieftain's  feet,  heated  with 
liberal  potations,  the  tht/le,  Hunferth,  jealous  and 
vexed,  tries  to  jeer  and  scoff  the  guest  out  of  coun- 
tenance ;  and  so  he  calls  across  to  the  bench  where 
Beowulf  sits :  — 

Hunferth  spake,  son  of  Ecglaf, 

who  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  Scyldings'  lord, 

unbound  the  battle-runes :  ^  Beowulf's  quest,  — 

haughty  seafarer's,  —  him  had  galled, 

for  he  always  grudged  that  another  man 

more  of  fame  in  this  middle  earth 

should  win  under  heaven  than  he  himself.  — 

"  Art  thou  that  Beowulf,  Breca's  rival, 

who  in  swimming  strove  on  the  spacious  main, 

when  ye  in  your  pride  must  prove  the  sea, 

and  for  wantonness  i'  the  waters  deep 

ventured  your  lives  ?    No  living  man, 

lables  of  the  first  half.  In  good  verse,  the  two  accented  syllables  of  the 
second  half  never  rhymed  with  each  other.  This  peculiarity  of  the  verse 
we  have  sought  to  retain  in  translation,  as  well  as  the  parallelisms,  in 
which  Anglo-Saxon  poetry  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  Hebrew. 
The  use  of  alliteration  is  shown  in  the  host  of  phrases  like  "  have 
and  hold  "  retained  by  our  once  poetical,  now  prosaic  laws.  For  list 
in  Anglo-Saxon,  see  Meyer,  Altgerm.  Poesie,  p.  200  fp. 
1  "  Set  loose  the  secrets  of  battle,"  i.e.  began  to  quarrel. 


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nor  lief  nor  loath,  from  your  labor  dire 

could  you  dissuade.     O'er  the  sea  ye  rowed, 

ocean  tides  with  arms  ye  covered, 

measured  the  sea-streets,  strove  with  hands, 

glode  o'er  the  waters.     Winter's  flood 

rolled  high  in  billows ;  in  realm  of  sea, 

a  sennight  toiled  ye  :  he  topped  thee  in  swimming, 

had  more  of  main  !     Him  at  morning-tide 

to  Heathorseme  kin  the  current  bore, 

whence  he  hied  to  his  home  so  lief,  — 

beloved  of  his  liegemen,  —  land  of  Brondings, 

stronghold  fair,  where  folk  he  had, 

burg  and  treasure.     His  boast  o'er  thee 

the  son  of  Beanstan  soothly  wrought. 

Now  ween  I  for  thee  a  worse  adventure,  — 

though  in  rush  of  battle  thou  brave  hast  been,  — 

struggle  grim,  if  Grendel  here 

thou  darest  to  wait  this  one  night  through." 

Beowulf  spake,  bairn  of  Ecgtheow.  — 

**  What  a  deal  hast  babbled,  dear  my  Hunferth, 

drunken  with  beer,  of  Breca  now, 

fabled  his  faring !     In  faith,  I  say 

that  I  have  more  of  might  at  sea 

than  any  one  else,  —  of  ocean-toil ! 

We  twain  once  said,  —  we  were  scarcely  boys,  — 

and  made  a  boast,  —  though  both  as  yet 

youthful  in  age,  —  that  on  ocean  far 

we  would  dare  our  lives  :  and  we  did  it  so. 

A  naked  sword,  as  we  swam  o'er  ocean, 

we  held  in  hand,  hoping  to  guard  us 

against  the  whales.     Not  a  whit  from  me 

could  he  faster  float  o'er  the  flood  awav, 

more  fleet  on  the  waters  :  I  would  not  leave  him. 

Then  we  together  i'  the  waves  abode 

for  five  nights'  space  till  the  sea-flood  twinn'd  us, 

rolling  billows,  rawest  weather, 

darkling  night  and  northern  winds 

battle-grim  rushed  on  us  :  rough  were  the  waves. 

The  wrath  of  the  sea-fish  rose  apace  : 


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GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


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117 


h 


me  'gainst  monsters  the  mail  of  my  body, 

hard,  hand-linked,  lent  me  aid ; 

on  my  breast  was  the  battle-sark  braided  well, 

fretted  with  gold  :  then  grasped  me  hard 

and  haled  me  to  bottom  the  hostile  fiend, 

grim  in  his  gripe.   'Twas  given  me,  though, 

to  pierce  the  monster  with  point  of  sword, 

with  battle-blade.     Huge  beast  of  the  sea 

was  hent  with  a  thrust  of  hand  of  mine. 

Me  thus  often  the  murderous  foes 

sorely  pressed  :  I  served  them  well 

with  my  darling  sword,  as  due  and  right. 

Not  at  all  did  their  booty  bring  them  joy, 

these  evil-doers,  to  eat  me  there, 

seated  to  banquet  at  bottom  of  sea ; 

but  at  break  of  day,  by  the  brand  destroyed, 

on  the  marge  of  ocean  up  they  lay 

put  to  sleep  by  the  sword ;  and  since,  no  more 

in  the  foaming  sea-ways  sailor  folk 

are  let  in  their  faring.  —  Light  from  east 

came  God's  bright  beacon  (the  billows  lessened) 

so  that  I  saw  the  sea-cliffs  high, 

windy  walls  :  oft  Wyrd  preserveth 

undoomed  earl  if  he  doughty  be. 

Sooth  it  befell  me  with  sword  to  kill 

nine  of  the  nicors.  —  By  night  ne'er  heard  I 

of  harder  struggle  'neath  heaven's  dome, 

nor  on  wave  of  the  waters  wearier  man. 

Yet  I  came  with  life  from  the  clutch  of  foes, 

worn  with  my  wandering.     Waves  upbore  me, 

flood  over  ocean  to  Finnas'  land, 

welling  waters.    No  wise  of  thee 

have  I  heard  men  tell  such  terror  of  falchions, 

bitter  battle.    Breca  never, 

nor  thou  nor  he,  in  the  hot  war-play 

such  daring  deed  had  done  at  all, 

with  bloody  swords  (I  boast  not  of  it), 

though  thou  the  bane  ^  of  thy  brothers  wast, 

1  Murderer. 


the  chief  of  thy  kin,  —  whence  curse  of  hell 

awaits  thee,  good  as  thy  wit  may  be ! 

For  I  say  ^  in  sooth,  thou  son  of  Ecglaf, 

ne'er  Grendel  such  heap  of  horrors  had  wrought,  — 

monster  dire,  —  on  thy  master  here, 

in  Heorot  such  havoc,  if  heart  of  thine 

were  as  battle-bold  as  thy  boast  is  loud  1 

But  he  has  found,  no  feud  will  come, 

no  deadly  raid,  from  Danish  people, 

fears  no  fray  from  the  folk  of  Scylding. 

He  forces  pledges,  favors  none 

of  all  your  race,  but  he  revels  on, 

slumbers  and  feasts,  no  feud  expects 

among  the  Spear-Danes.  —  Straightway  now 

shall  I  the  prowess  and  power  of  the  Jutes 

bid  him  in  battle.  —  Blithe  to  mead 

go  he  that  listeth  when  light  of  morn 

o'er  sons  of  men  on  the  second  day, 

sun  robed  in  ether,  from  south  shall  beam !  "  ^ 

Blithe  then  grew  the  breaker  of  rings, 

hoary  and  battle-brave ;  ^  help  he  waited, 

in  Beowulf's  boast,  the  Bright-Danes'  lord. 

Shepherd  of  Clans,  heard  strong  resolve.  — 

Then  was  laughter  of  liegemen  loud  resounding, 

words  were  winsome.    Came  Wealhtheow  forth, 

queen  of  Hrothgar  heedful  of  courtesy, 

gold-decked  greeted  guests  in  hall. 

Then  the  high-born  lady  handed  a  cup 

first  to  the  lord  of  the  land  of  Danes, 

bade  him  be  blithe  at  the  beer-drinking, 

to  his  clansmen  gentle.    In  joy  he  took 

beaker  and  banquet,  the  battle-graced  king. 

Through  the  hall  then  went  the  Helmings'  lady, 

on  younger  and  older  everywhere 

treasure  bestowed,  till  the  time  had  come 

1  Note  how  Beowulf's  invective  leads  up  through  murder  to  the 
climax  of  Germanic  sins,  —  cowardice. 

2  That  is,  *'  the  hall  will  be  safe  after  to-night's  combat." 
8  King  Hrothgar. 


f 

t 

I-  i 


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GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


when  the  gold-decked  queen,  in  gracious  fashion, 

to  Beowulf  bore  the  beaker  of  mead. 

She  greeted  the  Jutes'  lord,  God  she  thanked, 

in  wisdom's  words  that  her  will  was  wrought, 

at  last  on  a  hero  could  lean  her  hope, 

comfort  of  terrors.     He  took  the  cup, 

warrior  bold,  from  Wealhtheow ; 

speech  then  uttered  the  stout  in  battle, 

Beowulf  spake,  bairn  of  Ecgtheow.  — 

"  This  was  my  thought,  when  my  thanes  and  I 

took  to  the  ocean,  entered  our  boat, 

that  I  would  work  the  will  of  your  people 

in  thorough  fashion  or  fall  in  death 

in  fiend's  gripe  fast.    I  am  fain  to  do 

deed  of  the  doughty,  or  day  supreme  ^ 

of  this  life  of  mine  in  the  mead-hall  bide !  " 

Well  the  words  to  the  woman  seemed, 

boast  of  the  Jute ;  with  jewels  laden, 

the  lady  bright  by  her  lord  sat  down. 

Then  rose  as  erst  the  revel  in  hall, 

proud  words  spoken,  the  people  glad, 

shout  of  victors,  —  till  suddenly 

the  lord  of  the  Healfdenes  listed  well 

to  find  his  rest.     For  the  fiend,  he  knew, 

in  the  banquet-hall  was  battle  prepared. 

In  other  words,  they  remember  that  it  is  night-time 

now,  and  the  monster  must  shortly  make  appearance. 

So  the   Danes  leave  the  hall   to  Beowulf   and   his 

Jutes. 

.  .  .  The  band  arose ; 
eagerly  greeted  one  the  other, 
Hrothgar  to  Beowulf,  hail  he  bade  him, 
power  in  the  wine-hall,  —  these  words  he  added : 
"  To  never  a  hero  my  hall  I've  trusted, 
since  first  I  could  heave  up  hand  and  shield, 
my  noble  hall,  save  now  to  thee. 


^  Last. 


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119 


Have  now  and  hold  ^  this  house  so  lordly, 
have  mind  on  thy  glory,  thy  main  declare, 
watch  for  the  foe.  —  No  wish  shall  fail  thee, 
if  thou  bidest  the  battle  with  bold- won  life !  "  ^ 


Then  they  go,  and  anon  the  great  struggle  takes 
place ;  the  hall  totters  with  the  conflict  between 
Beowulf  and  Grendel  and  would  have  fallen,  had  it 
not  been  so  extraordinarily  well  built.  The  extract 
we  have  just  considered  is  somewhat  tedious,  and 
exaggerates  certain  grave  and  obvious  defects  in  the 
style  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry;  yet  the  quality  tire- 
some to  us  was  welcomed  by  the  Grermans,  who  had 
a  childish  delight  in  repetition  and  detail;  and  the 
defects  are  inherent  with  poets  that  have  not  attained 
the  self-control  of  the  artist.  This  breathless  hud- 
dling style  was  dear  to  the  brawny  old  warriors. 
Again,  where  monkish  learning  has  touched  our 
verses,  it  has  not  adorned.  They  are  in  many  parts 
tinged  with  Roman  culture,  and  veneered  with  a  thin 
coating  of  the  new  religion ;  the  speech  of  Beowulf 
is  too  parliamentary  for  the  temper  of  those  earliest 
Germans;  and  perhaps  the  queen  is  something  too 
much  of  a  grande  dame.  But  making  all  these  allow- 
ances, we  are  safe  in  looking  on  this  description  as 
essentially  Germanic  ;  nor  can  a  tolerably  critical  eye 
fail  to  detect  and  leave  out  of  account  the  touches  of 
a  more  modern  brush. 

The  chief  business  of  the  hall  was  evidently  such 
as  we  have  seen,  —  royal  receptions  and  banquets, 

1  The  antiquity  of  this  legal  form  is  proved  by  the  alliteration,  as 
well  as  by  its  solemn  use  in  this  place. 

2  The  passage  is  given  in  full  except  a  few  lines  near  the  end,  and 
runs  in  the  original  from  v.  402  to  v.  661. 


120 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


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121 


f'  it 
j 


the  latter  being,  of  course,  the  more  constant  factor. 
In  these  revels,  men  had  cup  or  horn  to  hold  in  the 
hand,  —  "  without  tables  !  "  ^  says  a  plaintive  German 
commentator.  We  have  spoken  of  horn  and  cup  al- 
ready ;2  but  we  must  not  forget  the  old  blood-cur- 
dling habit,  which  has  done  service  for  so  many  orators 
and  editors,  of  drinking  from  the  skulls  of  slaugh- 
tered enemies.  This  custom  was  primitive  and  Ger- 
manic; Livy  tells  us  the  same  thing  of  the  Celts.^ 
Nor  was  it  necessarily  the  skull  of  an  enemy ;  one 
could  pay  this  graceful  compliment  to  a  dead  friend, 
and  murmur,  "  Alas,  poor  Yorick ! "  with  even  a  nearer 
sentiment.  Grimm  cites  many  instances.^  We  know 
that  Alboin  met  his  death  because  "  when  he  had  sat 
too  long  one  day  at  a  banquet  in  Verona,  with  the 
beaker  before  him  which  he  once  had  caused  to  be 
made  from  the  skull  of  his  father-in-law.  King  Cuni- 
mund,  what  must  he  do  but  send  wine  to  the  queen 
and  bid  her  drink  merrily  along  with  her  father.  Let 
no  one"  —  adds  the  good  Paul  —  "let  no  one  call  this 
impossible ;  I  speak  the  truth  in  Christ,  and  I  myself 
have  seen  this  beaker."  ^  And  in  another  place  the 
same  writer  says :  "  Alboin  slew  Cunimund,  cut  his 
head  off,  and  had  a  beaker  made  of  it.  This  sort  of 
beaker  is  called  skala  among  them;  in  Latin,  pa- 
tera.'' Older  than  history  is  the  myth  of  Wayland, 
best  told  in  the  Norse    Vilkinasaga,^     Volundr,  as 

1  Tacitus  says  these  were  used  at  the  Germanic  meal :  "  Sua  cuique 
mensa."    Germ.  XXII. 

2  Many  names  occur  in  the  Germanic  languages  to  express  "  drink- 
ing-cup."    See  Vilmar,  Deutsche  Altertumer  im  Heliand,  p.  37. 

8  Hehn,  438 ;  Livy,  XXIII.  24.  ■*  G.  D.  S.^  100. 

5  Paul.  Diac.  Hist.  Langob.  II.  28.    See  also  I.  27. 
«  P.  E.  Miiller,  Sagabibliothek,  II.  157. 


K 


his  Norse  name  runs,  treats  in  a  fashion  similar  to 
Alboin's  the  bones  of  a  king's  two  sons. 

In  Beowulf  little  was  said  about  the  particulars  of 
the  feast ;  in  Judith,  a  late  epic  on  a  Christian  sub- 
ject, a  banquet  is  described  quite  in  the  Germanic 
fashion,  even  if  it  is  the  doing  of  no  less  a  person 
than  Holofernes.  He  orders  a  great  feast  and  bids 
to  it  "the  eldest  of  his  thanes,"  —  the  highest  in  rank 
and  service. 

Then  fared  they  thither  at  feast  to  sit, 

proud  to  the  wine,  his  wicked  fellows, 

bold  mailed-warriors.     Beakers  tall 

were  borne  to  the  benches,  bowls  and  flagons 

were  filled  for  the  floor-sitters  :  fey  they  took  them, 

warriors  stout,  though  he  wist  no  thing, 

dread  leader  of  earls.     Then  Olof ernes, 

gold-friend  of  men,  wa;S  glad  with  wine, 

laughed  and  was  loud  in  larum  and  din, 

so  that  many  a  mortal  marked  afar 

how  the  sturdy-minded  one  stormed  and  yelled, 

mead-mad  and  haughty ;  admonished  oft 

the  crowd  of  benchers  to  quit  them  well. 

So  the  worker  of  evil  all  day  long 

drenched  his  warriors  deep  in  wine, 

stout  treasure-breaker,  until  they  swooned, 

plied  his  thanes  till  prone  they  lay, 

drenched  them  all  as  if  death  had  seized  them, 

drained  of  life.  .  .  . 

This  is  Germanic  through  and  through,  —  the  "larum 
and  din  "  agreeing  with  accounts  given  us  by  classic 
writers  of  the  clamor  and  "  wassail "  cries  of  a  Gothic 
banquet,^  —  as  indeed  any  one  may  see  by  comparing 
the  biblical  account;  and  it  is  much  more  strongly 

1  In  the  fifth  century  the  Alamanni  had  the  fame  of  being  the  hardest 
of  German  drinkers.    Salvianus,  quoted  by  Hodgkin,  Italy,  I.  310. 


122 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


and  sharply  outlined  than  the  too  shadowy  descrip- 
tion in  BSoivulf.     This  cheerful  defiance  of  all  local 
coloring  is  a  saving  virtue  in  the  early  English  poets, 
and  helps  us  to  many  a  trait  of  their  own  time  which 
they  would  have  scorned  to  record  of  purpose.     The 
old  Saxon  poet  who  paraphrased  the  gospels  describes, 
much   in   the  same  fashion   as   above,  the  feast  of 
Herod,  and  also  —  though  naturally  as  a  far  more 
decorous   affair  —  the   banquet   at    Cana.^       People 
gather  in  the   "guest  hall"  of  the  "high  house"; 
they  grow  "  blithe  " ;  while  the  servants  "  go  about 
with  bowls  and  cups  and  pitchers,"  till  "on  the  floor" 
—  that  is,  in  the  hall  —  "  was  fair  pleasure  of  earls," 
and  from   the   benches   rose  delight  of   the  people. 
The  technical  term  among  the  oldest  English  poets 
to  describe  this  bliss  of  revel  was  "  dream,"  2  —  the 
joy  that  springs  from  drink,  and  song,  and  laughter 
in  the  warm  hall,  shared  with  one's  household  and 
vassals ;  then  it  came  to  mean  a  similar  state  in  one's 
sleep,  which  is  the  only  meaning  now  attached  to  the 
word.      Song,   noise,  —  that   was   the   Anglo-Saxon 
notion,  as   witness   the   three   remarkable   glosses  i^ 
"  Concentus^  i.  adunationes  multarum  vocum,  efenhleo- 
prung,  vel  dream.  —  Furor  enim  animi  eito  finitur^  vel 
gravius  est  quam  ira,  re|>nes,  woden,  dream.  —  Armonia 
[=  Harmonid]^  dream."     A  "  dreamer"  is  a  musician. 
However,  the  Germanic  warrior  could  enjoy  in  hall 
both  the  ancient  and  the  modern  dream;   for,  save 
when  a  Grendel  made  the  hall-night  hideous,  it  was 
there,  stretched  on  his  bench,  or  on  a  rude  sort  of 

1  Heliand,  1994  fp. ;  Herod's  banquet,  2734  ff.  (Hesme's  ed.). 

2  See  also  Vilmar,  work  quoted,  p.  38. 

8  Wright-Wiilker,  212,  36 ;  245,  7 ;  342,  39. 


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123 


1 


bed,  that  the  clansman  slept;  and  Tacitus  tells  us 
that  it  was  often  well  into  the  following  day  when 
our  dreamer  rose,^  took  his  bath  —  hot,  if  possible,  — 
and  went  off  to  the  duties  of  the  morning.  It  might 
be  that  another  feast  claimed  his  attention,  some  pub- 
lic affair,  as  when  a  youth  was  graced  with  spear  and 
shield  in  presence  of  the  clan,  and  so  became  a  free- 
man, a  warrior,  and  a  pillar  of  the  state.  It  might  be 
a  town  meeting,  or  some  other  function  of  the  citi- 
zen ;  but  it  was  certainly  no  manual  labor,  no  care  of 
farm  or  cattle.  That  was  not  the  warrior's  business. 
He  would  often,  says  Tacitus,  lie  whole  days  before 
the  fire  ;  and  if  we  ask  what  he  was  doing  there  when 
not  asleep,  we  are  entitled  to  the  suspicion  that  he 
was  gambling.  This  was  his  vice  of  vices ;  the  na- 
tional propensity  to  gamble  was  not  a  mere  pastime, 
but  a  reckless,  absorbing,  passionate  gambling,  which 
often  ended  not  only  in  poverty,  but  in  slavery. 
When  property  was  gone,  when  wife  and  child  were 
gone,  the  German  staked  his  own  liberty ;  and  if  he 
lost  his  last  throw,  went  voluntarily  into  servitude, 
even  under  a  weaker  man.^  This  is  an  old  Aryan 
trick.  Dice  are  actually  prayed  to  in  the  Vedas ;  and 
dice  remained  prime  favorite  with  Germans  through- 
out the  middle  ages,  even  among  women .^  A  more 
innocent  game,  resembling  our  draughts  or  checkers, 
was  known  to  the  Germans  perhaps  as  early  as  the 
fourth  century ;  and  the  materials  of  the  game,  "  bone, 
glass,  amber,  or  earthenware,"  are  found  in  Scandi- 
navian tombs,  which  date  from  the  early  iron  age.** 

1  Germ.  XXII.  2  Qerm.  XXIY. 

8  See  also  Weinhold,  Deutsche  Frauen,^  1. 113. 
■*  Montelius,  work  quoted,  p.  113. 


* 


124 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Of  course,  the  Germans  hunted.  Caesar  says  it  was 
an  amusement  in  which  they  took  delight,  a  very 
reasonable  statement.  What  more  natural  than  for 
this  giant  to  rise  from  his  lolling  by  the  fire,  like  any 
man  of  muscle,  sick  at  last  of  inactivity  and  sloth,  to 
shake  his  invincible  locks  and  course  the  woods  for 
bear  or  boar  or  stag?  Unfortunately,  Tacitus  and 
the  Germania  tell  another  story,  and  say  that  Ger- 
mans do  not  spend  much  time  in  the  chase.  Holtz- 
mann  and  certain  English  editors,  with  heroic  remedy, 
simply  strike  out  the  negative,  and  so  square  Tacitus 
with  Csesar  and  with  common  sense.  We  know  that 
the  latter  mentions  game  as  part  of  the  German  larder; 
and  since,  moreover,  your  hunting  is  a  war  in  little, 
we  have  reason  to  think  of  our  forefathers  as  mighty 
hunters  before  their  gods.  How  else  shall  we  account 
historically  for  the  English  squire  and  the  game-laws  ? 
Still,  we  must  go  cautiously  in  these  assumptions. 
Jacob  Grimm  saw  even  in  falconry  an  old  Germanic 
sport,  and  dedicates  to  it  a  chapter  ^  of  his  Greschichte 
der  deutschen  Sprache  ;  but  Hehn's  opposition  to  such 
a  view  seems  based  on  very  solid  facts.^  All  the 
refinements  of  the  chase,  he  contends,  are  of  Celtic 
origin,  whence  even  the  Romans  borrowed  more  than 
one  improvement.  Nevertheless,  we  feel  sure  that 
the  German,  though  careless  of  terms  and  methods, 
had  plenty  of  plain,  honest  hunting,  —  wolf,  bison, 
elk,  bear,  and  boar.  Something  of  the  old  spirit  must 
assert  itself  in  that  merry  scene  of  the  Nibelungen 
Lay,  which  with  conscious  or  unconscious  art  finely 
increases  the  horror  of  the  tragedy  that  follows  so 


Cap.  IV. 


2  Work  quoted,  p.  305. 


4 


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125 


hard  upon  its  heels.^  We  hear  the  horn  winding 
clearly  through  the  forest,  the  bay  of  hounds  on  all 
sides,  four  and  twenty  packs  yelling  after  the  game 
in  as  many  directions,  Siegfried  laughing,  joking, 
killing  whatever  is  met,  and  at  last  in  sheer  sport 
catching  a  huge  bear  alive  and  binding  it  to  his  sad- 
dle ;  he  carries  it  to  camp,  where  he  lets  it  loose  to 
dash  through  the  kitchen,  scare  the  cooks  and  upset 
half  the  food  among  the  ashes ;  and  then,  as  the  beast 
escapes  all  pursuit,  and  makes  for  the  forest,  we  see 
Siegfried  once  more  in  pursuit,  killing  it  and  bringing 
it  to  the  fires.  It  seems  imbedded  in  our  race  and  no 
importation,  even  from  the  Celt,  —  this  broad-hearted 
joy  in  following  the  deer,  this  delight  of  hounds  and 
horn,  which  ring  out  so  bravely  in  English  as  well  as 
German  song,  and  which  can  still  drive  a  London  fop 
into  prairie  or  jungle  that  he  may  find  "  something  to 
kill."    What  race  speaks  in  Shakspere's  Theseus  ?  — 

And  since  we  have  the  vaward  of  the  day, 

My  love  shall  hear  the  music  of  my  hounds. 

Uncouple  in  the  western  valley.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  My  hounds  are  bred  out  of  the  Spartan  kind, 

So  flew'd,  so  sanded ;  and  their  heads  are  hung 

AVith  ears  that  sweep  away  the  morning  dew  ; 

Crook-knee'd  and  dew-lapped  like  Thessalian  bulls ; 

Slow  in  pursuit,  but  match'd  in  mouth  like  bells, 

Each  under  each.     A  cry  more  tuneable 

Was  never  holla'd  to,  nor  cheer'd  with  horn 

In  Crete,  in  Sparta,  nor  in  Thessaly.  .  .  . 

It  is  not  without  full  purpose  that  these  scenes 
and  doings  of  such  a  late  period  have  been  thrown  in 
with  extracts  from  the  G-ermania  and  quotations  from 

1  XVI  Aveutiure,  loie  Sifrit  erslagen  wart. 


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Beowulf,  It  is  probably  true,  or  nearly  true,  when 
Justus  Moser  calls  modern  peasant  life  in  Germany 
a  fair  copy  of  the  primitive  condition  of  the  race ;  but 
we  must  make  the  important  concession  that  parallel 
scenes  may  be  rendered  really  different  by  a  difference 
in  the  persons.  Charlemagne  doubtless  lived  in  the 
midst  of  discomforts  that  would  not  now  be  tolerated 
by  an  Irish  navvy ;  but,  aside  from  the  absurdity  of 
comparing  the  persons,  not  a  detail  in  the  surroundings 
of  one  can  be  fairly  appealed  to  for  a  picture  of  the 
surroundings  of  the  other,  unless  we  constantly  insist 
upon  this  nobler  element  of  jDcrsonal  character,  and 
the  relative  nature  of  civilization.  To  do  tliis,  there 
is  evident  help  in  any  bit  of  epic  which  preserves 
Germanic  elements  in  comparative  purity.  With  such 
caution,  we  may  finish  our  consideration  of  the  Ger- 
manic house  by  bringing  it  into  contrast  with  modern 
homes.  How  little  of  our  modern  home  was  repre- 
sented in  the  old  German  dwelling  is  readily  seen 
when  we  examine  familiar  names  like  tile^  ivall^  street^ 
mortar^  tower,  pillar,  chamber,  and  many  others.^  The 
primitive  Germanic  house  took  different  forms  in 
plan  and  detail,  which  may  be  studied  in  Henning's 
monograph.2  This  author  thinks  that  the  Saxon 
peasant-house  is  developed  directly  from  the  old  Ger- 
manic dwelling ;  and  here  we  see  a  combined  stable 
and  house,  entered  through  a  door  large  enough  to 
admit  a  wagon.  Right  and  left  of  the  entrance  are 
stalls  for  cattle  and  horses.  Passing  by  these,  we 
come  upon  the  fiet,  —  the  living-room,  —  answering  to 

1  Hehn,  p.  115.    All  are  foreiojn  derivatives. 

2  See  especially  29  if.,  5G  ff.,  136  ff.    The  Germauic  hall  is  described 
153  ff. 


THE   HOME 


127 


the  primitive  hall,  whose  occupants  our  Anglo-Saxon 
epic  Q2i\\Qdiflet8'ittende,  Here  is  the  low  hearth,  altar- 
like, by  the  further  wall,  but  once  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  and  centre  of  the  house  in  every  way.  It  was 
an  old  custom  for  bride  and  groom,  on  entering  their 
new  home,  to  march  thrice  around  the  fire.^  On  one 
side  of  this  hearth  are  table  and  bench ;  on  the  other, 
a  washing-place,  open,  with  water  from  the  outside ;  and 
immediately  adjoining  the  stalls  was  a  rude  platform 
on  which  stood  the  beds  of  the  family,  and  where  the 
mistress  of  the  house  could  sit  and  spin,  while  she 
overlooked  all  the  house,  —  man,  maid,  and  cattle. 
Equally  interesting  is  the  diverging  plan  of  dwelling 
found  upon  the  Cimbrian  peninsula  near  the  home 
of  our  own  ancestors.^  In  all  these  houses,  for  the 
most  ancient  times,  we  may  assume  dead  as  well  as 
living  tenants  ;  the  German  peasant  was  once  buried 
in  the  house  where  he  was  born. 

Henning  makes  it  probable  that  this  old  Germanic 
house  was  not  very  different  from  that  of  primitive 
Italians  and  Greeks.  All  go  back  to  a  common 
Aryan  type.  The  word  "hall,"  like  the  thing,  is 
original ;  it  means  that  which  protects  or  conceals. 
"  Timber,"  as  we  have  seen,  is  Latin  domus,  the  build- 
ing itself.  "  Thatch,"  "  door,"  are  both  original  words. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  primitive  Germanic  dwell- 
ing was  an  heirloom  of  Aryan  days,  and  that  the 
simple  art  of  building  house  and  home  was  learnt 
before  the  great  exodus  from  the  birthplace  of  that 

clan  of  destiny. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  assume  that  his  house  at 
least  was  felt  by  the  primitive  German  to  be  his  own. 

1  See  Simrock,  Mythologie,  p.  600.  «  Henning,  p.  48  ff. 


128 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


"  Own "  is  a  very  old  Germanic  word  —  and  fact.^ 
Besides  his  house,  what  did  the  freeman  own?  In 
the  matter  of  land,  to  be  sure,  we  have  rival  theories, 
individual  ownership  and  the  communistic  plan ;  but 
however  that  may  be,  the  man  who  tilled  land  owned 
it  while  he  tilled  it,  and  owned  what  he  raised  upon 
it.  The  old  German  distinguished  between  real  and 
personal  estate ;  the  latter  consisting  in  weapons, 
dress,  ornaments,  utensils,  hunted  game,  cattle,  slaves, 
and  even  the  house  itself ;  — for  could  not  this  be  car- 
ried about  from  place  to  place  ?  Of  other  kinds  of 
property  we  could  find  curious  examples  gathered 
from  old  laws ;  but  we  shall  notice  only  the  property 
in  trees  of  the  forest.  In  his  treatise  upon  Haus- 
und  Hofmarhen^  the  signs  or  marks  made  on  houses 
or  other  property,  Homeyer  shows  that  proprietary 
marks  were  put  on  trees,  tame  stags,  cattle,  clothes, 
and  what  not.  The  Lex  Salica,  for  example,  pro- 
vides that  a  man  may  mark  a  tree  for  felling,  and  no 
one  else  is  to  touch  it  for  the  space  of  one  year ;  after 
that  it  becomes  again  public  property.  The  property 
in  bees  who  hived  in  a  particular  tree  has  been 
already  noticed.  —  In  fine,  we  may  be  sure  that  our 
ancestors  were  not  in  that  delightful  condition  of 
certain  African  tribes  where  nobody  owns  anything 
and  everybody  steals  what  he  can. 


1  See  K.  von  Amira,  in  Paul's  Grdrs.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2,  150  ff. 

2  Berlin,  1870,  p.  8  ff . 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


129 


CHAPTER   V 


I 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 

The  husband  a  warrior,  the  wife  housekeeper  and  farmer  — 
Rights  of  women  — Germanic  chastity  —  Woman  as  sibyl  — Her 
courage  —  Wooing  and  wedding  — How  far  love  was  a  factor— 
Dower  or  price  —  Ceremony  of  marriage  —  Punishment  for  infi- 
delity. 

Let  us  come  closer  to  the  family  life  of  our  fore- 
fathers. The  free  German  was  essentially  a  warrior, 
and  such  farming  as  he  had  was  in  the  hands  of  his 
wife,  who  was  helped  by  slaves  and  the  weaker  mem- 
bers of  the  household.  To  look  after  the  cattle  and 
the  horses  was  work  for  the  freeman  so  long  as  no- 
madic habits  prevailed;  but  he  had  no  taste  for 
grubbing  and  raking  and  gathering  of  crops.  To 
steal  cattle — provided  the  theft  was  open,  there 
was  no  disgrace  in  it  ^  —  smacked  of  war ;  just  as 
the  moss-troopers  and  raiders  of  the  Scottish  bor- 
der in  very  late  times  were  not  by  any  means  with- 
out allies  of  gentle  blood.  Meanwhile,  farming 
slipped  into  Germanic  life  under  feminine  escort, 
and  began  very  modestly  indeed.  The  primitive 
German  wife,  says  Lippert,^  "span  wool,  made 
clothes,  cared  for   the   fowls,  and  — -  tried  her  hand 

1  Grimm,  R.  A.  634.  2  Religion  d.  europ.  CulturvUlker,  p.  36. 


130 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


131 


I    i 


* 


at  raising  barley."  ^  In  other  respects  her  position 
in  the  state  was  pitiable  enough ;  and  Wacker- 
nagel  reminds  us^  that,  if  we  may  believe  Gregory 
of  Tom's,  the  Franks  once  held  serious  debate  in 
one  of  their  church  assemblies  whether  or  not  a 
woman  was  a  human  being.  Yet  this  importance 
in  the  household  and  in  the  farm  gave  her  a 
certain  responsibility,  leadership,  and  dignity.  We 
must  remember,  too,  what  an  important  part  the 
German  woman  played  in  matters  of  divination 
and  religion ;  add  to  the  power  of  the  wise  woman, 
like  Veleda,  the  chastity  for  which  Tacitus  so 
warmly  praises  the  German  wife,  and  we  can  im- 
agine that  this  was  no  race  of  sheer  barbarians.  Sue- 
tonius ^  lauds  the  insight  of  Augustus,  who  saw  how 
much  stress  Germans  laid  upon  noble  women  as  hos- 
tages, caring  little  for  men ;  and  so  Rome  began  to 
demand  this  new  sort  of  pledge  from  the  barbarians. 
But  we  must  not  let  sentiment  run  away  with  us ;  and 
the  famous  eulogy  will  bear  a  bit  of  investigation. 
No  part  of  the  Crermania  is  so  much  admired  as  this ; 
and  it  is  the  fashion  to  accept  it  as  a  sort  of  con- 
spiracy before  the  fact  with  Goethe's  Uwi^weihliche, 
—  in  some  respects,  not  without  reason.  Women, 
even  in  those  days,  were  not  deprived  of  legal  pro- 
tection. Legal  and  statutory  exclusion  from  cer- 
tain privileges  is  a  proof  that  other  rights  exist 
and  are  guaranteed  by  custom;  thus  we  find  the 
Salic  Law,  "oldest  of  Teutonic  codes,"*  fixing  cer- 

1  Barley  had  for  the  German  three  distinct  merits :  it  grew  quickly, 
needed  little  care,  and  furnished  an  intoxicating  drink. 

2  Kl.  Schr.  I.  3. 

8  See  also  Urzeit  (Deutsche  Vorzeit,  I.),  p.  319. 
*  It  dates  from  the  fifth  century. 


tain  principles  of  female  inheritance,  particularly  that 
women  may  not  inherit  land.     Of  coui-se,  as  is  now 
well  known,  nothing  is  said  about  succession  to  a 
throne.     From  ownership  of  land  woman  was  proba- 
bly excluded  in  all  Germanic  tribes,  and  this  Salic 
Law  represents  the  general  point  of  view.^     Where 
we  find  daughters   admitted  to   equal  shares  of  an 
estate  with  sons,  as  among  the  Visigoths,  we  may 
assume  foreign   influence.     Moreover,  women  were 
not  members   of   the  state,  but  were   under  control 
of  father  or  brother,  who  punished  or  rewarded  them 
at  pleasure.     The  oldest  English  law  is  full  of  this 
doctrine.2    Refractory  wife  or  daughter,  where  stripes 
are  unavailing,  is  sold  or  even  given  away.     We  shall 
presently  see  that  the  Tacitean  account  of  the  punish- 
ment meted  out  by  German  custom  to  an  adulteress 
agrees  exactly  with  this  view  of  a  woman's  position 
in  the  state.     But  custom  is  law ;  and  custom  had 
very   early   begun   to  give   woman   a   certain   legal 
standing.     This  process  probably  began  in  the  rights 
of  inheritance  ;  a  runic  inscription  of  ancient  Norway, 
highly  important  both  for  its  age  and  for  its  length, 
speaks  "  of  the  male  heirs "  iarUnyd)  and  "  of  the 
female  heirs"  Carhingano),     Thus,  in  the  absolutely 
heathen  and  purely  Germanic  north,  we  have  as  early 
as  the  year  550  a  definite  word,  corresponding  to  a 
definite  fact,  and  recognizing  the  rights  of  female 
inheritance.3     Traditional  equity  gave  the  daughters 
ornaments  and  certain  articles  of  furniture ;  the  rest 

i"De  terra  Salica  nulla  portio  hereditatis  mulieri  veniat."  Lex 
Sal.  62,  6  apud  Grimm,  R.  A.  407. 

2  Details  in /?.  ^.  738. 

8  Stone  at  Tune  in  Norway.  See  Noreen's  Altisldnd.  itnd  Altnoriv. 
Grammatik,  p.  189  f.,  and  references  there  given. 


132 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


il* :.; 


•  1^ 

'    1 1 


of  the  property  followed  the  male  line.     Not  without 
importance  is  the  hint  of  Tacitus  that  among  the  Ger- 
mans of  his  day  traces  still  lingered  of  a  primitive  law 
which  gave  all  property  to  the  sons,  but  only  in  the 
female  line.     He  says  i  that  a  sister's  sons  stand  with 
the  uncle  as  high  as  with  the  father;    "some  even 
think  this  tie  of  blood  to  be  holier  and  closer,  and 
they  have  regard  to  it  in  the  choice  of  hostages. 
Still,  the  heirs  are  always  the  children,  and  wills  are 
unknown."      Now  by   the   old  notion   of   maternal 
inheritance,2  a  man  "  would  part  more  readily  from 
his  wife's  child  than  from  his  sister's  child ;  for  in  his 
eyes  there  was  more  blood-relationship  with  the  lat- 
ter." 3    The  Germans  of  Tacitus  had  long  passed  this 
point  of  view,  and  had  developed  a  high  sense  of  the 
paternal  relationship ;  but  survivals  occurred  like  the 
above,  and  gave  a  certain  support  to  the  position  of 
woman.     In  slave-law  the  old  rule  held,  —partus  se- 
quitur  ventrem,  the  offspring  belonged  with  the  mother ; 
but  even  in  this  respect  the  ancient  laws  show  con- 
siderable divergence.     Proof  of  woman's  position  is 
helped,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  by  a  study  of 
Germanic  myths.     If  the  ways  of  gods  and  goddesses 
reflect  earthly  existence,  —  and  we  are  sure  they  do,  — 
the  worship  of  a  Nerthus  seems  impossible  for  a  com- 
munity which  gave  no  rights  and  paid  no  respect  to 
women.     When  Tacitus  tells  us  of  a  tribe  of  Ger- 
mans  in  the  north  "which  is  ruled  by  a  woman,"  *  we 
may,  it  is  true,  call  this  a  fable,  like  the  other  won- 

1  Germ.  XX. 

2  Obviously,  in  communities  without  settled  married  relations,  ma- 
ternal inheritance  is  the  only  certain  method. 

8  Lippert,  Rel.  d.  eur.  Culturv.  p.  60.  4  Germ.  XLV. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


133 


ders  which  his  artistic  instinct  marshalled  at  the  end 
of  his  book  and  on  the  border  of  the  frozen  world, 
and  we  may  ascribe  it  to  the  misunderstanding  of  a 
Finnish  word;  but  for  all  the*  fable,  there  may  be 
something  in  the  legend  beyond  what  meets  the  ear 
of  the  etymologist.  We  know  that  the  lady  of  Mer- 
cia  was  no  fiction  ;  as  Warton^  says,  "ladies  in  Eng- 
land were  anciently  sheriffs  of  counties  ! "  And 
lastly,  let  the  grave  itself  bear  witness.  Antiquaries 
in  Scandinavia  refer  to  1000  B.C.  the  body  of  a 
woman  found  buried  in  a  tree-coffin,  with  a  dagger 
by  her  side.  Montelius,  perhaps  with  too  much  cre- 
dulity, calls  this  and  similar  finds  "  a  remarkable  inti- 
mation of  Amazons  during  the  bronze  age  in  the 
north."  2 

It  is  popularly  supposed  that  women  were  lifted 
to  their  present  place  mainly  by  the  influence  of  the 
church  and  of  chivalry.  This  is  in  great  measure 
true.  In  the  eighth  century,  —  say  a  hundred  years 
after  the  conversion,  —  nuns  in  England  take  active 
part  in  literature.  They  correspond  with  monks 
and  bishops  in  Germany ;  and  one  of  them,  living  in 
German  cloisters,  writes  the  life  of  her  brothers,  the 
missionaries  Willibald  and  Winnibald.^  This  Wal- 
burga,  however,  is  outdone  by  a  nun  of  the  tenth 
century,  Hrotsvith  of  Gandersheim,  the  famous  medi- 
aeval blue-stocking.  She  wrote  legends  and  history 
in  Latin  verse,  and  actually  made  the  first  attempts 
at  dramatic  composition,  of  which  we  have  any  record. 


1  History  of  English  Poetry,  II.  186. 

2  Work  quoted,  p.  62. 

*  See  also  Wattenbach,  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquellen  im  Mittel- 
aher,^  p.  97. 


/ 


( 


l1 


if 


134 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


since  the  downfall  of  classical  culture.^  Now  there 
must  have  been  some  basis  for  this  in  the  old  life. 
From    the   start,  if  we   may  believe   Wackernagel,2 


:nowledge  of  writing  was  largely  in  the  hands  of 
women ;  in  Scandinavia  women  seem  to  know  most 
about  the  making  and  reading  of  runes.  The  sibyl 
was  very  potent  in  Germany,  and,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see,  united  to  her  knowledge  of  divination  and 
mystic  signs  a  certain  majesty  and  sanctity  that  must 
have  helped  her  sisters  in  more  ways  than  one. 

Again,  the  care  of  the  house  and  farm,  onerous  as 
it  might  be,  gave  dignity  to  the  mother  and  wife. 
In  higher  walks  of  life  she  shares  her  husband's 
state,  —  witness  Wealhtheow  in  BSowulf,  We  find 
the  daughter  of  Hrothgar  performing  offices  like 
those  of  the  queen ;  Freawaru  also  goes  through  the 
hall,  bears  the  ale-cup  to  thirsty  warriors,  bestows 
treasure  and  greets  the  guests.^  The  purity  of  Ger- 
man family  life  was  eagerly  held  up  by  Tacitus  as 
a  lesson  for  his  countrymen.  Caesar  had  already 
praised  this  feature,  and  it  became  a  by-word  with 
the  later  chroniclers.  A  writer  of  the  fifth  century  ^ 
says  that  the  Germans  are  all  chaste,  except  the 
Huns  and  Alans,  —  an  exception  which  does  not 
affect  the  statement.  In  Rome,  family  relations  were 
going  from  bad  to  worse;  and  Tacitus,  eager  to 
teach  his  countrymen  that  strength  in  man  or  state 
depends  on  purity,  painted  too  bright  a  picture.  It 
has  the  pink-and-white  unreality  of  a  Dresden-china 
group.     In  some  respects  it  reminds  us  of  Cooper's 

1  Ebert,  Lit.  d.  Mittelalters,  III.  286,  314  ff.,  gives  a  full  description 
of  her  personality  and  her  work. 

2  Kl.  Schr.  1. 14,  note.  a  Beoiv.  2020  ff. 
^  Salvianus,  quoted  by  Hodgkin,  Italy,  1. 507. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


135 


eulogy  of  our  red  man,  or  of  the  far  more  grotesque 
savage  ideals  presented  by  French  writers  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century.  ' 

Briefly,  we  must  not  understand  the  chastity  and 
simplicity  of  Germanic  life  to  have  been  coupled  with 
those  qualities  which  in  our  own  stage  of  culture  are 
sure  to  be  found  among  persons  who  are  simple  and 
chaste.     This  German  woman,  who  doubtless  had  a 
plenty  of  rough  household  virtues,  with  her  vigorous 
barn-yard  brood  of  childi^en,  passed  into  history  as  a 
sort  of  Cornelia  or  Lucretia,  ruling  an  ideal  family, 
where  the  daughters  all  look  rosy  and  firm  of  flesh, 
and  spin,  and  sing  ballads  about  Arminius,  with  a 
shy,  downward  look  when  a  certain  brave  young  war- 
rior of  the  next  village  is  mentioned  in  domestic  con- 
versation, and  where  the  sons  hurl  lances  and  speak 
tumultuous  truth.     Romance,  as  in  Freytag's  books, 
has  helped  the  picture.     Leafy  forest,  gay  greenwood, 
are  very  well ;  but  neither  in  Spain  which  coined  the 
proverb  nor  yet  in  Germany,  is  it  "always  May"; 
and  the  scene  shifts  to  those  underground  dwellings, 
covered  for  sake    of   warmth  with  dung,  where  the 
household  passed  its  winter,  —  paterfamilias  in  that 
"single  garment,"  moody  and  idle  by  the  fire,  the 
women  weaving  and  spinning,  and  all  glad  of  the 
coarsest  sort  of  food.     Between  the  picture  of  romance 
and  the  squalor  and  savagery  which  certain  of  the 
modern  school  are  fain  to  pour  over  every  portion 
of  our  forefathers'  existence,  lies  a  middle  ground 
of  common  sense,  based  neither  on  romantic  fancies, 
nor  on  the  anxiety  to  push  a  theory  of  ethnology  to 
its  last  gasp,  but  on  the  facts  of  history  and  the  hints 
of  early  literature. 


.      i:| 


136 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


Nor  do  we  need  to  give  up  the  Roman's  splendid 
and  generous  eulogy.  We  have  simply  to  take  it 
out  of  the  sphere  of  rhetoric  and  reduce  it  to  prose.^ 
In  the  first  place,  polygamy  was  doubtless  rare ;  but 
it  had  no  particular  moral  sentiment  against  it. 
Precisely  because  it  was  no  great  crime  according  to 
German  ethics,  there  is  little  said  of  the  matter  at 
all.  Ariovistus  had  two  wives.  In  Scandinavia, 
unlimited  concubinage  was  common  enough ;  ^  but 
it  was  not  a  lawful  polygamy,  seeing  that  only  the 
children  of  the  free  wife  had  any  rights  in  the  fam- 
ily. The  habit  held  late.  Even  so  pious  and  noble 
a  man  as  Charlemagne  had  a  court  —  and  a  personal 
record  —  which  in  this  respect  will  not  bear  scrutiny. 
Economy,  not  morality  or  sentiment,  decided  the  mat- 
ter. There  was  a  total  absence  of  sentiment  in  Ger- 
manic life ;  but  a  householder  respected  the  capable 
mistress  of  his  home — because  she  was  capable  ;  and  he 
accorded  her  a  certain  supremacy,  because  only  thus 
could  she  do  her  best  work  and  bring  about  the  most 
good  for  the  family.  She  had,  therefore,  full  sway  in 
her  own  realm ;  she  could  not  easily  brook  a  rival. 
Perhaps  the  best  modern  instance  of  an  old  German's 
point  of  view  would  be  that  of  the  second  George 
of  England,  "  Paladin  George,"  and  his  devotion  to 
his  queen.  She  had  been  most  emphatically  "the 
man  of  the  house,"  and  the  king  was  in  despair  as  he 

1  Part  of  it  seems  sober  fact.  "  Marriages  are  strict,  and  no  phase 
of  their  life  is  to  be  so  highly  praised.  Alone  almost  of  the  barbarians, 
they  are  contented  with  a  single  wife,  a  few  excepted,  who,  not  for  the 
sake  of  sensuality,  but  on  account  of  their  high  rank,  are  sought  several 
times  in  marriage."     Germ.  XVIII. 

2  Weinhold,  A.  L.  248  f.  Grimm,  R.  A.  440.  Later  summaries  indi- 
cate belief  in  polygamy  among  the  old  Germans :  see  v.  Amira  in  Paul's 
Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2,  143. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


137 


stood  by  her  deathbed.  Who  does  not  remember  his 
pathetic  declaration  that  he  would  never  marry  again  ? 
—  "Non,  j'aurai  des  maitresses."  ^ 

The  sanctity  of  the  household,  and  in  consequence 
the  inviolable  character   of   marriage,  owed  a  good 
measure  of   their   support    to    the  old  ceremony  of 
ancestor-worship.     It  is  not   only  Spencer   and   the 
ethnologists  who  insist   on   the  wide  importance  of 
this  cult ;  it  is  nearly,  if  not  quite  a  settled  matter 
in  the  court  of  scholarly  opinion.     Only  a  legitimate 
son,  reasoned  the  German,  can  or  will  minister  to 
his  dead  parents.      To  leave  a  son  who  should  be 
head  of   the   house,   and   therefore   its   priest,   who 
would  perform  its  rites  according  to  the  good  old  cus- 
tom,  and   train    up  his  own   children   to  the  same 
belief   and  practice,  was  one  of  the  foundations  of 
family  life.     Household  gods  were  no  fiction  in  those 
days.     Now  with  such   a   sanction   for  the    family, 
with  such  necessity  for  a  head,  for  strict  gradations 
of  birth,  we  can  see  how  the  iron  weight  of  custom 
and  religious  tradition,  and  not  the  feeble  breath  of 
sentiment,  inclined   the    scale    in   favor    of  German 
women.     If  other  reasons  are  needed  for  taking  in 
earnest  the  main  of  Tacitean  eulogy,  we  may  point 
again  to  the  importance  attached  to  noble  ladies  as 
hostages,  — in  the  Waltharius  legend,  heroine  as  well 
as  hero  is  hostage  at  the  court  of  Attila,  —  or  to  the 
honor  paid  to  daughters  of  the  royal  blood,  as  among 
the  Goths. 

Again,  there  is  the  subjective  side.     The  Germanic 

1  Beowulf,  1932  ff.,  describes  the  good  and  the  bad  type  of  woman 
in  the  persons  of  two  queens,  Hygd  and  Thrytho.  The  former  is  mild, 
generous,  gracious;  the  latter  remorseless,  cruel,  and  altogether  un- 
womanly. 


IP! 


138 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


woman  stands  out  in  history  with  a  certain  nobility 
and  steadfastness  of  character.  In  the  doubtful  issues 
of  battle — it  is  an  enemy  who  records  it  —  she  pre- 
fers death  to  captivity.  When  Caracalla  asked  some 
German  women  whom  he  had  taken  captive,  whether 
they  preferred  to  be  slaves  or  to  be  killed,  they  chose 
to  die ;  and  when  in  spite  of  this  they  were  sold  into 
slavery,  they  all  put  themselves  to  death.  At  Aquse 
Sextise  the  women  died  rather  than  go  into  capti\dty ; 
and  the  same  is  told  of  the  Cimbrian  women  at  Ver- 
cellse.  They  tried  to  make  a  bargain  for  their  cap- 
tivity by  which  they  could  be  slaves  in  temples  and  so 
preserve  their  chastity ;  and  when  this  was  refused, 
they  killed  their  children  and  themselves.  Paul  the 
Deacon  tells  an  odd  story  how  the  daughters  of  a 
certain  Lombard  duke,  captives  among  a  strange  race, 
took  heroic  measures  to  preserve  their  honor ;  ^  we  are 
glad  to  learn  that  these  courageous  damsels  finally 
escaped  and  married,  one  the  king  of  the  Alamanni, 
the  other  a  prince  of  the  Bavarians. 

Divorces  and  second  marriages  among  the  Ger- 
mans were  very  rare.  They  were  so  frequent  at 
Rome,  however,  that  no  barbarian  custom  could  have 
seemed  lax  by  comparison.  It  was  the  honorable 
work  of  the  church,  and  that  only  after  most  des- 
perate struggles,  such  as  the  contest  between  Lothar 
II.  and  Pope  Nicholas  I.,  that  marriage  came  to  be 
regarded  as  indissoluble.  Among  the  Germans,  in- 
fidelity on  the  part  of  the  wife  met  swift  and  ruthless 
punishment,  often  death.  Boniface  ^  mentions  hang- 
ing, wand  being  whipped  to  death  by  other  women. 

1 IV.  37.  They  carried  putrefying  meat  about  their  own  persons,  iu 
order  to  disgust  the  ardent  suitor.  ^  Epist.  59. 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


139 


Tacitus  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  formal  expulsion 
of  an  adulteress  from  her  husband's  home :  "-  With 
shorn  hair  and  stripped  of  her  clothing  she  is  thrust 
by  her  husband  from  his  house,  her  relatives  looking 
on,  and  so  is  driven  with  blow  on  blow  through  the 
whole  village."!  But  all  this,  of  course,  was  only 
for  women.  The  church  has  the  credit  of  forcing 
law  and  sentiment  to  take  cognizance  of  the  hus- 
band's guilt  as  well. 

As  regards  that  famous  sanctum  aliquid  et  pro- 
vidum,^  W  may  well  believe  that  there  was  abundant 
reverencelor  the  prophetic  and  sacred  character  of 
woman ;  but  it  was  a  reverence  based  on  religious  tra- 
dition, and  was  at  the  farthest  possible  remove  from 
mediaeval  or  modern  chivalry.  We  are  hardly  to 
think  that  the  German  attributed  superior  insight 
to  woman  as  woman;  the  gods  spoke  through  herH 
The  Veleda,  whom  Tacitus  mentions,  both  in  this 
passage  and  in  the  histories,  was  a  typical  wise 
woman,  who  had  prophesied  the  defeat  of  the  Roman 
legions.  From  the  words  of  Tacitus  it  seems  that  she 
was  finally  captured  and  brought  to  Eome.^  She  was 
chosen,  along  with  the  leader  Civilis,  to   decide  a 

1  Germ.  XIX.,  prefaced  by  the  general  statement:  "paucissima  in 
tam  numerosa  gente  adulteria,  quorum  poena  praesens  et  maritis  per- 
niissa." 

2  Germ.  VIII.  Mention  has  been  made  of  the  services  rendered 
by  women  in  time  of  battle, —of  the  ardor  inspired  in  the  warrior  at 
sight  of  his  mother,  wife,  or  daughter,  and  the  thought  of  what  captiv- 
ity would  bring  to  them.  Captivity  thus  becomes  doubly  feared.  For 
the  enemy  to  have  noble  women  as  hostages  is  a  most  eflScient  restraint 
upon  the  Germans.  Then  Tacitus  adds:  "Indeed,  the  German  thinks 
there  dwells  in  his  women  something  holy  and  prophetic;  he  neither 
spurns  their  advice  nor  neglects  their  oracular  sayings." 

3  "Vidimus  sub  divo  Vespasiano  Veledam."  See  remarks  of  com- 
mentators. 


r 


140 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


141 


weighty  question  of  state ;  but  the  messengers  were 
not  permitted  "  to  see  Veleda  face  to  face  and  speak 
to  her.  Sight  of  her  was  withheld  in  order  that  the 
reverence  for  her  might  increase.  She  stood  upon  a 
lofty  tower,  and  one  of  her  relatives,  like  a  messenger 
of  the  gods,  carried  question  and  answer."  ^  Costly 
gifts  were  sent  to  her ;  a  trireme,  for  example,  cap- 
tured from  the  Roman  fleet.^  Even  the  Romans 
themselves  sought  to  win  her  good  graces,  in  order 
to  influence  her  countrymen.  Nor  were  all  of  her 
functions  oracular  and  prophetic;  she  was  made 
umpire  in  civil  disputes.^ 

Such  a  position  offered  attractions  to  the  ambitious 
young  woman  of  Germany  who  had  a  soul  above 
marriage  and  a  talent  for  ecstatic  shrewdness.  In- 
deed, we  afterwards  hear  of  a  certain  system  of  edu- 
cation in  these  matters,  and  find  Norwegians  and 
Swedes  sending  their  daughters  to  Finland,  the  chosen 
country  of  magic  and  sorcery ;  *  a  historic  basis  for 
the  young  woman  of  our  own  day  who  goes  to  Ger- 
many. Nor  is  this  so  far-fetched  as  it  may  seem. 
Runes,  incantations,  the  cunning  interpretation  of 
various  carved  or  written  symbols,  formed  a  good 
part  of  the  sibyl's  business ;  but  to  write  and  read 
in  this  way  does  not  —  under  leave  of  Dogberry  — 
"  come  by  nature,"  and  we  may  certainly  think  of  a 
definite  if  not  systematic  instruction.  It  was  doubt- 
less such  a  woman's  duty  to  etch  upon  the  warrior's 
sword-blade  those  potent  rvmes  of  battle,  or  to  undo 
the  harm  of  hostile  runes.  A  Noi-se  maiden  who  has 
lost  her  brother  offers  to  carve  the  runes   on   the 


1  Tac.  Hist.  IV.  65.  «  Ibid.  V.  22. 

4  Weinhold,  Deutsche  Fraiien,  1. 105. 


»  Grimm,  D.M*  334. 


kevels,  —  pieces  of  wood,  —  if  her  father  will  make 
the  memorial  verse.^ 

Moreover,  as  Grimm  remarks,^  it  is  women  who 
mediate  between  divine  and  human ;  and  Tacitus 
reminds  us  that  such  handling  of  holy  business  leads 
at  last  to  godhead  itself.  "  Veleda,"  he  says,  "  a  virgin 
of  the  tribe  of  Bructeri,  was  respected  far  and  wide 
in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  Germans,  who 
regard  many  of  their  women  as  sibyls,  and,  with 
growing  superstition,  as  goddesses."  ^  In  other  words, 
the  sibyl  did  not  lose  her  power  at  death ;  we  shall 
see  hereafter  how  "  dead  women  "  reveal  to  Scandi- 
navian dreamers  the  secrets  of  another  world,  or  tell 
of  a  mortal's  approaching  death.^  Chip  and  cut  as 
we  will  from  the  testimony  of  the  ancients,  this  rev- 
erence for  women,  living  or  dead,  stands  out  a  stub- 
born fact  in  the  Germanic  character.  It  is  one  of 
those  nobler  elements  which  shine  all  the  more 
clearly  in  the  dark  world  of  their  ignorance  and 
ferocity.  Jewish  tradition  knew  only  the  prophet, 
the  masculine  angel,  who  carries  God's  will  to  a 
nation  or  to  a  man ;  but,  as  Grimm  points  out,  with 
the  German,  "  men  are  for  deeds,  and  women  are  for 
wisdom."  Our  ancestors  assigned  the  providum  to 
women  ;  now  it  is  a  goddess,  a  Valkyria,  —  now  it  is 
a  mortal  maiden  of  the  Veleda  pattern,  a  spdkona  in 
Norse,  the  spae-wife  of  our  own  Scottish  tradition. 
It  is  such  a  woman  who  gathers  up  the  past  of  Scan- 
dinavian myth  in  the  Vqluspa^  the  prophecy  of  the 

1  Ibid.  I.  133  f .  2  x).3/.4  329. 

8  •*  Ea  Virgo  nationis  Bructerae  late  imperitabat :  vetere  apud  Ger- 
manos  more,  quo  plerasque  feminarum  fatidicas,  et  augescente  siiper- 
stitione,  arbitrantur  deas."     Hist.  IV.  61. 

*  Atlamdly  27. 


142 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


sibyl,  and  sings  the  death-song  of  Germanic  heathen- 
dom. On  the  border  world  of  spirits  and  living  men 
hover  the  forms  of  supernatural  women  warning, 
helping  or  banning.  When  Drusus  had  crossed  the 
Weser  and  drew  near  the  Elbe,  there  met  him  a  woman, 
in  form  and  habit  more  than  mortal,  who  warned 
him  1  of  his  approaching  end ;  and  to  another  dreaded 
invader  appeared  a  rune-maiden,  and  cried  "Back, 
Attila ! "  to  the  Hunnish  king.^  Such  are  the  Valk}-- 
rias  and  the  Swan-Maidens  of  our  mythology ;  and  high- 
est phase  of  all,  we  find,  as  in  Greek  and  Roman  tradi- 
tion, the  issues  of  death  and  life  in  women's  hands. 
The  Norns  are  governed  by  no  god,  be  he  Odin  him- 
self ;  and  the  vast  underworld,  a  far  older  locality  in 
myth  than  the  Vikings'  heaven  of  Valhalla,  is  ruled 
by  the  inexorable  goddess,  Hel. 

Some  are  ready  to  affirm  that  this  power  of  woman 
in  the  other  world  only  reflects  the  earlier  stages  of 
actual  life,  —  that  the  Valkyrias,  for  example,  are 
nothing  more  than  sublimated  Amazons.^  Instances 
are  not  far  to  seek  of  this  actual  fighting  on  the  part 
of  Germanic  women.  Tacitus,  indeed,  confines  their 
activity  to  exhortations,  the  rallying  of  a  disheartened 
army ;  but  when  all  this  failed  at  Aquse  Sextise,  when 
the  drum-beating  and  the  incantations  were  of  no 
avail,  then  the  German  women  fought  fiercely  enough 
around  their  "  wagon-burg."  An  old  story  of  some 
Germanic  raid  into  Rhsetia  under  the  reign  of  Marcus 

1  In  Latin.    Suetonius,  Claudius,  I.  2  DjfA  334. 

8  So  Holtzmanu.  SchuUerus,  Zur  Kritik  des  VaW^llylauhens,  Paul- 
Braune,  Beitr.  XII.  221  ff.,  esp.  p.  225,  makes  Valkyrja=  **Kampferin." 
Very  different  is  Vigfusson's  notion:  "chosen  alien-woman,"  i.e.  con- 
cubine of  a  king,  C.  P.  B.  II.  474.  The  old  etymology  was  "chooser 
of  the  slain." 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


143 


Aurelius,  says  that  after  the  fight  bodies  of  armed 
women  were  found  upon  the  battle-field,  covered  with 
wounds.  Thomas  Wright  notes  ^  that  during  the  mid- 
dle ages  Welsh  women  used  to  go  with  their  men  in 
hostile  excursions  across  the  English  border;  and  for 
Germanic  women,  Rochholz  has  collected  2  abundant 
material  bearing  on  this  matter  of  physical  bravery. 
Occasionally  women  took  their  own  parts  in  the  trial 
by  combat ;  at  least  Weinhold  quotes  a  curious  case 
where  a  woman  fights  an  accuser  for  her  own  cause.^ 
Her  weapon  was  a  stone  bound  up  in  a  veil  or  hood ; 
while  the  man  stood  half  buried  in  a  hole  and  fought 
with  a  stick ;  but  this  is  not  without  a  strong  savor 
of  burlesque.  Probably  the  noblest  figure  in  Scandi- 
navian poetry  is  HervQr,  as  she  stands  undaunted 
before  the  flaming  tomb  of  her  father  and  demands 
the  dead  man's  sword.  Here  is  evidently  the  later 
Norse  ideal  of  high-born  womanhood. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  suppress  the  final  chapter 
of  a  story  that  begins  so  nobly ;  but  if  truth  be  told, 
the  last  state  of  this  sanctum  et  providum  in  Ger- 
manic women  was  its  worst.  Christianity  banned 
the  old  sanctities  and  mysteries,  and  the  prophetic 
maiden  — "^a  vlrgo'' —gYQw  little  by  little  into  a 
woman  who  clung  to  the  disgraced  divinities,  had 
dealings  with  Satan,  was  guilty  of  the  lowest  vices 
and  the  most  disgraceful  motives,  did  nothing  but 
harm,  caused  storm,  ruin,  pestilence,  and  death.  The 
much-abused  "  Dark  Ages,"  however,  went  no  further 
than  bans  and  curses ;  it  Avas  reserved  for  the  dawn 

1  Womankind  in  Western  Europe,  p.  5. 

2  Deutscher  Glaube  u.  Brauch,  II.  289  flf. 
8  Deutsche  Frauen,  I.  205. 


144 


GERMAXIC  ORIGINS 


of  our  modern  epoch  to  muster  in  a  last  attack  all  the 
old  mummeries  and  superstitions;  and  the  sanctum 
et  providiim,  taking  lead  of  the  rest,  deluged  the  age 
with  that  mass  of  cruelty,  blasphemy,  and  obscenity 
which  we  now  include  under  the  half-harmless  name 
of  witchcraft. 

So  much  for  the  general  position  of  woman ;  we 
must  now  consider  the  household  of  which  she  was  no 
unimportant  member.  The  family,  the  kin,  and  so  to 
the  clan,  is  obvious  progress  of  civilization,  which  at 
last  reaches  the  point  where  private  family  life  works 
to  strengthen  the  state,  and  the  state  works  to  protect 
the  family  and  guarantee  individual  rights.  In  early 
Germanic  times  the  family,  or  rather  the  kin,  is  by 
far  the  most  powerful  factor  in  public  as  in  private 
life.  The  family  proper  comprised  the  six  relations 
of  father,  mother,  son,  daughter,  brother,  sister ;  ^  a 
wider  circle  began  outside  of  this  limit,  and  could  be 
extended  at  will.  These  outer  degrees  of  relationship 
were  called  "  knees  " :  one  man  was  kin  to  another  in 
the  "  third  knee,"  "  fourth  knee,"  and  so  on.  The 
number  seems  to  count,  not  from  a  common  ancestor, 
but  from  his  children,  —  the  point  where  the  collater- 
als begin ;  so  that  the  grandchildren,  not  the  children, 
would  stand  "in  the  first  knee."  From  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  cnSow^  "knee,"  was  formed  the  word  for  a  family 
or  clan :  cnSoris.  Other  names  were  mceg^  and  cpi^ 
our  "  kin,"  whence  "  king  "  (cyning^^  or  the  "  child  of 
the  tribe."  It  is  on  the  basis  of  kin  that  we  study 
Germanic  institutions.  A  family,  smaller  or  larger, 
held  its  members  united  by  the  strongest  of  bonds ; 

1  See  further  K.  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr,  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2. 137  f. 

2  Scbniid,  Ays.  Gesetze,  p.  548. 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


145 


they  made  common  front  against  an  enemy,  and  kept 
peace  among  themselves.  The  word  sib  means  both 
"peace"  and  "  relationship."  ^  To  give  this  little 
senate  laws,  to  govern  his  immediate  family  and  do 
his  duty  as  member  of  the  larger  family,  was  chief 
business  of  the  Germanic  freeman  aside  from  his 
vocation  of  warrior  and  his  avocation  of  huntsman. 
Every  member  of  the  family  was  subordinate  to  its 
head,  not  simply  under  his  control,  but  at  his  mercy : 
he  could  punish,  sell,  and,  in  primitive  times,  kill.2 
We  must  here  as  before  clear  our  minds  of  modern 
sentiment,  and  keep  in  sight  the  rigid  nature  of 
household  organization.  We  will  begin  at  the  foun- 
dation of  the  family,  wedlock. 

The  German  wife  was  not  wooed ;  she  was  won,  — 
and  it  is  salutary  to  remember  that  "  win  "  means  first 
"  to  fight "  and  then  "  to  get  by  fighting."  In  the 
time  of  Tacitus,  a  Germanic  wife  was  probably  bought 
with  a  price  —  not  in  our  sense  of  buying  wares,  how- 
ever—  in  a  transaction  between  father  and  bride- 
groom, which  marked  a  distinct  advance  from  the 
earlier  and  universal  practice  of  stealing  one's  wife. 
Of  course,  this  earlier  method  of  finding  a  helpmeet, 
did  not  cease  utterly  and  at  once.    For  Roman  affairs 

1'* Gossip"  has  endured  heavy  fates.  See  also  Old  Saxon  sibbia 
(Vilmar  in  Altert.  t^.  52);  our  words,  kind,  gentle;  and  Grimm,  E.  A, 
288,  where  we  are  reminded  that  Old  Norse  lid  meant  both  "help," 
"support,"  and  "family." 

2  A  little  insight  into  this  privilege  and  duty  of  a  householder  to 
punish  —  often  by  death  —  a  guilty  member  of  his  family  will  set  in 
clearer  proportions  the  frequent  domestic  murders,  as  we  should  call 
them,  of  our  old  plays.  Setting  aside  some  obvious  cases,  we  should 
thus  understand  the  action  of  divers  husbands  and  lovers,  such  as 
Philaster's  act  of  "justice  "  in  attempting  to  kill  Arethusa,  Philaster, 
Act  IV.;  Perigot's  similar  conduct  towards  Amoret,  Faithful  Shep- 
herdess, Act  III. ;  and,  of  course,  Othello,  and  the  rest. 


146 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


147 


we  have  the  stock  illustration  of  the  Sabine  women, 
a  fine  concenti-ation  of  immemorial  custom  into  a 
single  act;  and  the  Roman  wedding  kept  a  mock 
abduction  as  one  of  its  features.  The  winning  of 
Atalanta  in  the  race  is  like  those  more  strenuous 
proofs  of  muscle  ^  which  Gunther  found  necessary  to 
win  Brunhild  in  the  Nibelungen  Lay ;  while  actual 
survival  is  evident  at  peasant-weddings  of  the  Conti- 
nent, where  there  is  often  a  mock  fight  for  possession 
of  the  bride,  or  a  race  between  bride  and  bridegroom. 
So,  at  Frisian  weddings,  a  sword  is  borne  before  the 
bride .2  Actual  traces  —  not  by  any  means  mere  sur- 
vivals —  are  found  in  Tacitean  Germany.  Arminius 
is  said  to  have  stolen  his  uncle's  daughter  and  made 
her  his  wife.  Perhaps  the  so-called  indemnification 
of  the  daughter  of  a  murdered  man,  which  consisted 
in  giving  to  her  as  husband  one  of  the  murderer's 
family,  is  only  a  later  way  of  explaining  the  old  sys- 
tem of  wife-robbing.  In  Norse  mythology,  when 
the  giant  Thiassi  is  killed  by  a  device  of  the  gods, 
one  of  these  is  given  as  husband  to  the  daughter  of 
the  victim.  Severe  laws  were  enacted  against  wife- 
robbing,  a  proof  of  its  popularity ;  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  price  for  armed  force  in  marriage  is  a  step 
in  culture  analogous  to  the  composition  of  a  murder 
by  payment  made  to  the  victim's  family  instead  of  the 
primitive  exposure  to  revenge,  —  the  wergild.  In  fact, 
Waitz  identifies  the  woman's  price  in  marriage  with 
her  wergild  itself. 

Admirable  as  this  arrangement  must  have  seemed, 

1  Wrestling,  hurling  the  stone,  etc. 

2  Grimm,  R.  A.  1G7.     For  exogamy  in  England,  see  Grant  Allen, 
Anylo-Saxon  Britain,  p.  81  f. 


immense  as  were  its  advantages  over  the  raw  and 
brutal  act  of  older  times,  even  this  peaceful  bargain 
may  well  have  run  counter  here  and  there  to  the 
stirrings  of  a  young  Germanic  heart.  In  an  Icelandic 
saga,  Helga  takes  with  outward  assent  and  obedience 
the  husband  whom  her  father  gives  her;  but  her 
heart  remains  constant  to  her  lover,  Gunnlaug  Snake- 
Tongue.^  And  we  are  led  to  ask  the  question.  How 
far  was  the  sentiment  of  love  a  factor  in  the  Germanic 
marriage  ?  Such  material  as  Grimm  accumulates  ^  by 
way  of  partial  answer  will  not  serve  our  purpose. 
The  passages  are  nearly  all  mediaeval,  and  are  rife 
with  the  first  riches  of  chivalry  and  the  worship  of 
fair  dames.  We  cannot  possibly  carry  all  that  —  a 
song,  for  example,  from  the  Carmina  Burana  —  back 
into  Tacitean  Germany.  So  that  one  is  tempted  to 
claim  for  Germanic  life  in  its  full  extent  the  remark 
made  by  Grimm  ^  in  regard  to  Anglo-Saxon  poetry,  — 
that  nobody  thought  of  portraying  the  love  of  woman. 
Where  men  and  women  live  in  anything  better  than 
savagery,  some  gleams  of  sentiment  must  flash  out. 
Moreover,  it  must  be  remembered  that  monks,  who 
wrote  down  our  old  literature,  would  be  shy  of 
such  material.  The  story  of  Walter  and  Hildegund 
has  all  the  external  characteristics  of  a  runaway 
match,  —  if  one  were  not  constantly  struggling  with 
the  sensation  that  Hildegund  and  the  treasure  stolen 
from  Attila  were  somehow  both  of  the  same  character 
in  the  regard  of  the  hero.  The  loves  of  Siegfried  and 
Kriemhilt  are  already  touched  slightly  with  the  glitter 

1  Gunnlaugssaga,  ed.  Mogk.  ^D.M.330t;  III.  113  f. 

*  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Andreas  und  Elene,  p.  xxv :  '*  An  dar- 
stellung  der  frauenliebe  hat  uberhaupt  auch  kein  andrer  angelsach- 
sischer  dichter  gedacht." 


148 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


149 


of  mediaeval  tournaments  and  mediseval  chivalry.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  passion  of  Helgi  and  his  Valkyria 
Sigrun  —  a  Norse  background  puts  the  actual  date  in 
some  equality  with  far  older  Germanic  material  — is 
not  without  the  charm  that  we  are  wont  to  couple 
with  romantic  love.  But  it  is  mixed  with  supernatural 
traits ;  it  is  the  old  union  of  a  peerless  mortal  warrior 
with  an  immortal  maiden.  Helgi  fights  lion-like  in 
the  heart  of  battle  ;  down  hastens  Sigrun,  as  the  clash 
of  spears  grows  shriller,  hovers  protecting  over  her 
warrior,  and  cries  to  him  in  joy  of  his  victory.  But 
his  answer  is  not  a  lover's.  In  the  second  lay  of 
Helgi,  however,  we  meet  the  full  wind  of  passion. ^ 
"  Hc^gni  hight  a  king ;  his  daughter  was  Sigrun.  She 
was  Valkyria  and  rode  air  and  sea.  .  .  .  Sigrun  rode 
to  Helgi's  ships."  Then  follows  dialogue;  then  a 
battle,  after  which  Sigrun,  promised  in  royal  assembly 
to  a  certain  king,  seeks  Helgi,  greets  him  and  kisses 
him  under  helmet ;  then  the  hero  is  moved  to  love 
the  maiden.  She  says  her  father  has  promised  her  to 
another  man ;  now  she  has  crossed  his  will,  and  woe 
must  follow.  Helgi  consoles  her :  "  Fear  not  Hggni's 
rage  nor  the  hatred  of  his  kinsmen.  Thou  shalt  live 
with  me,  maiden,  for  thou  art  of  noble  birth."  In  the 
storm  at  sea,  while  Helgi  is  faring  to  battle,  he  looks 
aloft,  and  lo,  nine  Valkyrias  riding,  and  Sigrun  with 
them :  and  the  storm  is  laid.  A  battle  takes  place,  and 
all  the  kin  of  Sigrun  are  slain,  save  only  Dagr,  and  he 
made  his  peace.  And  Sigrun  learns  of  all  the  slaughter 
and  weeps;  but   Helgi  comforts   her:  "Weep   not, 

1  See  Hildebrand,  Edda,  163  ff. ;  Simrock's  Edda,  translation,  150  ff. ; 
the  Edda  of  the  Brothers  Grimm,  ed.  Hoffory,  p.  34  ff.;  Vigfusson- 
Powell,  C.P.-B.I.140ff. 


Sigrun,  it  was  for  thy  sake.     Kings  cannot  command 

their  destiny."     And  she  ^  answers :  ''  Fain  would  I 

give  life  to  them  that  are  dead,  —  but  rest  in  thine 

arms   as   well ! "     Then   comes   the   tragedy.     Dagr 

obtains  Odin's  spear   and   revenges  his  father,  and 

Helgi  falls,  and  Dagr  rides  to   Sigrun  and  tells  her 

what  is  done.     First  she  launches  her  bitter  curses 

upon  him  for  his  falsehood  and  treachery ;  and  then 

she  cries :  ^  "  Nevermore  shall  I  sit  happy  at  Sevafell, 

nor  have  joy  of  my  life  at  morn  or  eventide ;  for 

nevermore  shall  I  see   the  light  flash  on  my  lord's 

company,  nor  the  war-steed  with  its  gold  bit  bearing 

my  king  thither:   nevermore  shall   I   welcome   the 

king  home.  ..."     Then  follows  a  fine  bit  of  praise 

of   Helgi.     The  hero   is  buried,  a  hill  heaped  over 

him;    but  the   Viking-Paradise  of   Valhalla   claims 

him,  and  there  is  a  characteristic  touch  of  description 

as  he  enters,  spying  his  old  enemy  Hunding  :  "  Hund- 

ing,  do  thou  make  ready  a  foot-bath  and  kindle  a 

fire  for  each  of  us  (the  company  of  the  king),  and 

tie  up  the  hounds  and  bait  the  horses.  .  .  ."     But  in 

the  evening  Sigrun's  maiden  sees  Helgi  and  a  great 

retinue  riding  to  his  barrow  or  mound.     And  Helgi 

says,  ghost-fashion,  he  is  permitted  to  return  to  his 

barrow,  but  must  ride  the  paths  of  air  again  before 

the  dawn.     And  he  calls  on  Sigrun  to  come  forth  to 

him.     In  vain  the  maid  warns  her,  with   Horatio's 

arguments  of  harm,  not  to  go  forth.     She  goes,  and 

speaks :  "  I  am  as  glad  to  meet  thee  as  are  the  greedy 

hawks  of  Woden  when  they  scent  the  slain,  their 

1  With  Simrock  and  Grimm. 

2  This  is  the  translation  of  C.  P.  B.  1. 141.    A  different  rendering, 
Simrock,  p.  157. 


150 


GEKMANIC   ORIGINS 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


151 


warm  prey,  or  dew-spangled  espy  the  brows  of  dawn. 
I  will  kiss  thee,  my  dead  king,  ere  thou  cast  off  thy 
bloody  mail-coat.  Thy  hair,  my  Helgi,  is  thick  with 
rime ;  thy  whole  body  is  drenched  with  gory  dew ; 
thy  hands  are  cold  and  dank.  How  shall  I  deliver 
thee  from  this,  my  lord  ? ''  And  Helgi  answers :  "  It 
is  thine  own  doing,  Sigrun  from  Sevafell,  that  Helgi 
is  drenched  with  deadly  dew.  Thou  weepest  cruel 
tears,  thou  gold-dight  sun-bright  lady  of  the  south, 
before  thou  goest  to  sleep :  every  one  of  them  falls 
bloody,  dank,  cold,  chilly,  fraught  with  sobs,  upon 
my  breast.  .  .  . "  ^  Then  the  passion  of  their  old  life 
gets  hold  upon  them  in  the  very  tomb,  and  love  is 
stronger  than  death.  "  Let  us  drink  costly  draughts," 
cries  Helgi,  "  though  we  have  lost  both  love  and  land ! 
Let  no  man  chant  wailing  dirges,  though  he  see  the 
wounds  on  my  breast !  Now  are  maidens,  royal 
ladies,  shut  up  in  the  barrow  with  us  dead  men." 
Quoth  Sigrun :  "I  have  made  thee  a  bed  here,  Helgi. 
...  I  shall  sleep  in  thine  arms,  O  king,  as  I  should 
if  thou  wert  yet  alive.  .  .  ." 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  Bugge  refers  this  story  to  a 
Greek  origin,  and  sees  in  Helgi  and  his  Sigrun  a  Norse 
version  of  the  loves  of  Meleager  and  Atalanta,^  there 
is  too  much  of  the  Viking  splendor  in  the  whole  set- 
ting for  any  primitive  relations.  True,  the  awe  of 
monkhood  is  not  upon  these  wild  verses,  —  perhaps 
our  English  lovers  sang  as  boldly,  and  made  lays  fit 
to  frighten  the  pious  scribe,  —  but  neither  is  the  prim- 
itive simplicity  of  passion.     It  is  a  fierce,  world-worn, 

1  A  familiar  touch,  known  to  folk-lore  and  legend  everywhere. 

2  Bugge,  Studien,  pp.  (according  to  Norwegian  ed.)  12  f.,  166.  See 
W.  Grimm,  Heldensage,^  p.  355. 


martial  love,  with  a  Valkyria  for  Juliet,  and  a  grim 
warrior  for  Romeo.  It  is  the  glitter  of  the  viking- 
hfe,  with  its  dash  and  spoil  and  glimpses  of  foreign 
braveries  in  court  and  city ;  and  not  even  Helgi  and 
Sigriin  can  give  us  the  picture  which  we  desire  of 
old  Germanic  love. 

Aus  alten  Marchen  winkt  es 

Hervor  mit  weisser  Hand, 
Da  singt  es  und  da  klingt  es 

Von  einem  Zauberland,  — 

but  the  white  hand  beckons  from  a  bower  of  romance, 
and  the  enchanted  country  lies  this  side  of  German 
forests.     We  must  return  to  prose,  and  assume  with 
safety  that  there  followed  upon  the  custom  of  bride- 
stealing  the  more  peaceful  marriage  bargain,  a  step 
in  civilization;  and  that  in  course  of  time,  by  the 
good  offices  of  the  church,  women  began  to  assert 
their  likes  and  dislikes,  choice  began,  sentiment  — 
helped  by   what   Dryasdusts   call   Mariolatry  •— un- 
folded, and  only  the  dowry  and  marriage-settlement 
remained  from   the   old  conditions.     For  the   first 
transition,  we  have  a  most  edifying  document  in  the 
shape  of  an  edict  issued  by  King  Frotho  of  Denmark 
to  the  conquered  Ruthenians,i  that  in  view  of  the 
greater  stability  and  safety  of  marriages  made  on  the 
basis  of  a  definite  bargain,  people  are  not  to  wed 

1  Saxo  Gramm.,  lib.  5,  p.  48,  apud  J.  Grimm,  R.  A.  422 :  "  m  quis 
uxorem  nisi  emptitiam  duceret,  venalia  siquidem  connubia  plus  stabi^ 
htatis  habitura  censebat,  tutiorem  matrimonii  Mem  existimans,  quod 
pretio  firmarenturr  One  can  fancy  Polonius,  a  countryman  of  this 
Frotho.  saying  to  Laertes  by  way  of  further  advice  on  the  conduct  of 
life,  "When  thou  shalt  marry,  take  a  receipt  in  full  from  thy  father- 
in-law."  '' 


152 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


unless  they  pay  for  the  wife.     These  base  respects  of 
thrift  are  still  common  among  the  peasants  of  Europe. 
Tennyson's  Northern  Farmer  probably  has  plenty  of 
colleagues  in   actual  life,  and  Weinhold  quotes  a 
peasant's  saying,  which  is  even  more  to  the  point : 
^'  It's  not  man  that  marries  maid,  but  field  marries  field, 
—vineyard  marries  vineyard,  —  cattle  marry  cattle." 
Only  in  old  songs  and  legends,  and  rarely  there,  we 
hear  of  the  maiden  choosing  her  husband  from  a  num- 
ber of  suitors  ;2  and  in  one  of  these  few  cases  it  is  a 
burlesque  choice,  a  sort  of  rafae.     Skathi,  the  giant- 
daughter,  may  choose  one  of  the  gods  for  husband, 
but  is  allowed  to  see  nothing  of  them  save  their  feet. 
We  are  on  safer  ground  when  we  find  Hjordis  m  the 
Volsungasaga  choosing,  at  her  father's  bidding,  be- 
tween  two  kings,  which  she  will  marry.     "  Choose, 
says  the  father,  ^'for  thou  art  a  prudent  womanr    The 
transition   to  an  unhampered   choice  was   naturally 
slow.    A  cheerful  milepost  on  the  way  is  Cnut's  law :  * 
"  Neither  woman  nor  maid  shall  be  forced  to  marry 
one  that  is  disliked  by  her,  nor  shall  she  be  sold  for 
money,  unless  [the  bridegroom]  gives  something  of 
his  own  free  will."     But  usually  we  find  the  notion 
of  a  bargain  carried  out  quite  aside  from  any  fancies 
of  the  young  woman.     Another  Anglo-Saxon  law, 
an  old  one,  ordains :  "  If  one  buys  a  maiden,  let  her 
be  bought  with  the  price,  if  it  is  a  fair  bargain  Qgif  hit 
unfdcne  ib)  ;  but  if  there  is  deceit,  let  him  take  her 
home  again  and  get  back  the  price  he  paid."     The 

1  Deutsche  Trauen?  I.  319.  ^  ij.  a.  421,  note. 

8  Prose  Edda,  in  Bragarq%ur.  ^^ 

4  Schmid,  p.  312,  No.  74 :  "  Nemo  nubat  f(£minam  mvitam. 
6  Of  ^thelberht,  Schmid,  p.  8. 


HUSBAND   AND  WIFE 


153 


nature  of  this  bargain  seems  to  have  been  slightly 
misunderstood   by  Tacitus;    "the    bride,"  he   says,i 
"brings  no  dower  to  her  husband,  but  the  husband 
makes  a  gift  to  his  wife."     The  price  was  not  j^aid  to 
her ;  but,  at  least  in  the  oldest  times,  to  her  father  or 
natural  guardian  ;  in  later  times  the  price  was  turned 
into  a  gift  (like  the  famous  Morning-Gift)  or  settle- 
ment for  the  bride  herself.     To  sum  up,  and  give  an 
answer  to  the  question  about  love  or  commodity  in 
primitive  Germanic  marriages,  it  seems  reasonable  to 
exclude  almost  totally  the  workings  of  sentiment. 
Doubtless  the  ancestral  German  would  have  approved 
most  cordially  the  sentence   of  Bacon's    "Essay  on 
Love":    "They  do  best,  who,  if   they  cannot    but 
admit  love,  yet  make  it  keep  quarter,  and  sever  it 
wholly  from  their  serious  affairs  and  actions  of  life."  2 
All  this  concerns  the  marriage  of  free  with  free. 
If  a  free  woman  married  below  her  rank,  she  came 
into  a  painful   position,  and   must  lose   either   her 
husband  or  her  freedom.     A  curious  custom  of  the 
Franks  ordained  that  if  a  free  woman  was  married 
against  her  will  to  an  unfree  man,  she  should  go 
before  the  king  and  receive  from  him  the  offer  of  a 
sword  or  a  spindle,  —  in  this  case,  the  signs  of  free- 
man and  serf.     If  she  chose  the  sword,  she  should 
then  and  there  slay  with  it  her  unfree  husband ;  if 
she  chose  the  spindle,  she  went  with  him  into  unfree- 
dom.3     This  was  a  mild  case ;  in  other  laws  there  is 
less  symbolic  machinery  and  swifter,  sharper  justice. 

1  Germ.  XVIII. 

2  Even  the  marriage  of  Joseph  to  the  Virgin  Mary  is  treated  by  the 
Old  Saxon  Heliand  as  a  formal  bargain ;  he  "  buys  "  her.  Cf,  W.  Wack- 
ernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  55,  note. 

8  See  Wackernagel,  KL  Schr.  I.  5  f.  and  references. 


154 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Thus  the  Lombard  killed  a  serf  who  ventured  to 
marry  a  free  woman,  and  sold  her  into  slavery  if 
her  life  was  spared;  West-Goths  and  Burgundians 
scourged  and  burnt  them  both;  while  the  Saxons 
punished  an  unequal  marriage  of  any  sort  with  death 
of  man  and  wife.^ 

Just  as  the  husband  bought  his  wife,  so  ancient 
custom  permitted  him  to  sell  her.  When  the  Fri- 
sians were  forced  by  the  officious  severity  of  Olen- 
nius  to  pay  a  tribute  laid  upon  them  by  the  Romans, 
but  hitherto  exacted  only  in  part,  they  gave  "first 
their  cattle,  then  their  land,  lastly  their  wives  and 
children."  2  The  free  Saxon  had  the  right  to  sell 
wife  and  child ;  ^  and  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century 
a  German  could  do  the  same  thing  in  time  of  famine 
and  want.  In  Scandinavia  the  practice  was  common. 
Jacob  Grimm,*  explaining  the  Anglo-Saxon  phrase 
fcele  freotuwebbe  as  applied  to  a  wife,  "the  dear  peace- 
weaver,"  shows  that  fcele  meant  originally  "that 
which  one  may  buy  and  sell,"  like  German /^I'Z;  then 
"property,  what  is  valuable";  then  "dear."  We 
need  not  make  such  frantic  protest  of  horror.  The 
Germans  are  fond  of  citing,  at  every  possible  turn, 
the  public  sale  of  a  wife  in  Manchester,  England,  in 
1843 ;  ^  while  in  the  first  decade  of  our  century  we 
find  several  cases  on  record.  One  wife  "brought 
£1  4:8.  and  a  bowl  of  punch";  and  another  fetched 

1  Ibid.  p.  6. 

2  Ann.  IV.  72.  Drusus  had  laid  a  light  tax  upon  them,  —  tanned  ox- 
hides for  the  use  of  the  soldiers,  —  without  specifying  size  or  amount. 
Olennius  required  skins  of  the  bison,  —  terga  urorum,  —  or  an  equiva- 
lent. 

8  Weinhold,  D.  F.  II.  12. 

*  Andreas  und  Elene,  note,  p.  143  {El.  v.  88). 

6  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  1. 10. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


155 


twenty  guineas,  being  "  delivered  in  a  halter  to  a 
person  named  Houseman."  i  By  one  of  the  oldest 
Anglo-Saxon  laws,  whoever  enticed  away  a  man's 
wife  had  to  buy  him  another.2  The  thing  sounds 
very  heathen  ;  but  a  well-known  path  of  British  law 
still  leads  an  injured  husband  to  much  the  same 
result.^ 

Generally,  however,  a  matrimonial  purchase  was 
made   for    permanent    investment.     "  Atli    [Attila] 
gave  for  Gudi-un  a  mass  of  treasure,  thirty  men- 
servants   and  seven  handmaidens."     Theodoric  the 
Great  gave  his  niece  Amalaberga  to  Hermanafrid, 
king  of  the  Thuringians,  and  received  in  payment 
from  the  husband  a  number  of  "silver-white  horses  "  * 
Occasionally  we  find  excessively  high  prices  quoted, 
as  much  as  three  hundred  shillings  among  the  Sax- 
ons, and  among  Alamannians  and  Lombards  as  high 
as  four  hundred,  —  no  mean  price  when  we  reflect 
that  one  shilling  represented  the  value  of  an  ox  at 
sixteen  months.^     Moreover,  it  was   all   thrift,  not 
gallantry. 

We  will  suppose  the  price  paid  down  and  the  bride 
ready  to  be  brought  into  her  new  home.  Not  alto- 
gether  empty-handed  did  she  leave  her  father's 
house.6  According  to  Tacitus,  she  brought  even 
weapons  to  her  husband;  but  the  Roman's  explana- 

2  ^?J?K  ^.TV-^  *^'  Nineteenth  Century  in  England,  II.  65  ff. 

wifeff^f  '  ^''?'  '''  ^'^"'^'  p.  4:   -If  a  freeman  seduce  the 

wife  of  a  freeman,  let  him  pay  her  wergild  and  buy  another  wife  with 
his  own  money  and  bring  her  to  the  husband's  home  " 

dred  Poild/'''''''^'' ^''""''' '^  ''Damages,  Two  Hun- 

4  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  7. 

T  •  '  ^^'^'r.  T*"®  "''''^^'''  ^^^'  S^^^«  ^^^"^  «^^  to  thirty  oxen  for  a  wife 
Lippert,  Cnlturgesch.  II.  78.  6  a,  ^.  429. 


156 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


1 
i 


tion  is  wholly  fanciful.     Then  came  the  betrothal. 
Symbolic   ceremonies,   we    may   be   sure,   were   not 
lacking ;  but  they  differed  for  different  races.     The 
bride's  hair  was  probably  bound  up,  and  it  may  be 
that  keys  of  the  house  were  hung,  in  sign  of  office,  at 
her  girdle.i     A  boy  walked  before   her,  bearing  a 
sword  unsheathed,  a  custom  which  Mullenhoff  refers 
to  the  worship  of  Freyr.2    The  symbol  of  a  ring,  that 
genuine  wed  or  pledge,  can  be  traced  far  back  into 
the  middle  ages,  and  was  of  course  well  known  to  the 
Romans ;  but  it  cannot  be  proved  to  be  of  Germanic 
origin.     Grimm  suspects  foreign  influence.^     In  the 
north,  Thor's   hammer  was  used  to  consecrate  the 
bride,  just  as  it  consecrated  the  corpse  for  burial.* 
Thrym,  the  giant  bridegroom,  eager  for  the  nuptials, 
cries  out :  — 

Bear  in  the  hammer,  bride  to  hallow, 
lay  now  MiQllnir  ^  on  maiden's  knee, 
hallow  us  twain  in  hands  of  troth ! « 

In  fact,  this  famous  but  frustrated  ceremony  is  so 
close  a  copy  of  old  Scandinavian  ways  ^  that  some 
of  the  details  may  be  given.  Thor's  hammer  has 
been  stolen  by  Thrym,  and  cannot  be  had  unless  the 
gods  give  the  robber  Freyja  to  wife.  A  trick  is  tried. 
Thor  liimself  is  wrapt  in  the  bride's  veil  of  Freyja, 
puts  on  the  famous  Brising  necklace,  has  a  bunch  of 
keys  jingling  at  his  girdle,  has  jewels  on  his  breast, 

1  Wackemagel,  work  quoted,  p.  7  f . 

2i?.^.167.  8  i?.  ^.  432,  178. 

4  Mannhardt,  a  little  too  eagerly,  insists  on  its  phallic  significance. 

6  Name  of  Thor's  hammer. 

«  Edda,  Hildebrand,  Thrymskv.  30.  3  ff. 

7  So  say  Vigfusson  and  Powell,  C.  P.  B.  II.  472. 


» 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


157 


and  a  hood  wrapt  about  his  head,  and,  with  Loki  as 
bridesmaid,  fares  to  Giant-Land.  "  Up  spake  Thrym,^ 
the  Giant  lord :  '  Stand  up  my  Giants  all,  and  strew 
the  benches ;  they  are  bringing  me  Freyja  to  wife.' 
.  .  .  Early  in  the  evening  the  guests  gathered, 
and  ale  was  served  to  the  Giants.  ...  In  came  the 
Giant's  aged  sister  (mother?)  begging  boldly  for  a 
bridal  fee :  '  Take  the  red  rings  off  thine  arm  if  thou 
wouldst  win  my  love,  my  love  and  all  my  heart 
besides.'  .  .  ."  Then  Thrym  calk  for  the  hammer, 
Thor  lays  hold  of  it  and  slays  the  giants  all.  —  Touches 
of  burlesque  are  not  unwelcome  in  this  description, 
for  the  old-fashioned  ways  are  evidently  given  with 
great  care. 

This  actual  marriage  was  surely  an  important 
ceremony.  Waitz  thinks  ^  the  affair  was  private  and 
took  place  before  the  family  alone.  Tacitus  does 
not  commit  himself;  but  Grimm  insists  that  the 
ceremony  was  public,  and  collects  later  evidence  in 
favor  of  his  assertion.^  The  clan  and  kin  system 
demand  the  active  co-operation  of  relatives;  and 
Anglo-Saxon  laws  show  traces  of  this,  even  where 
the  church  has  begun  to  regulate  the  whole  affair."* 
Further  ceremonies  we  may  imagine.  Thus,  an 
oracle  was  doubtless  consulted,  and  symbolic  acts 
of  cult  were  accomplished  with  reference  to  those 
divinities  who  presided  over  marriages,  —  Freyr  and 
Freyja,  one  may  guess.  The  good  old  ways  were  duly 
acknowledged  by  a  mock  fight,  a  race,  or  what  not ; 
and  by  the  tears  and  lamenting  of  the  bride's  nearer 

1  Translation,  C.  P.  B.  I.  179  f.         2  Verfassunggesch.  I.  61. 
8  R.  A.  433.  Tacitus  simply  says :  **  Intersunt  parentes  et  propinqui,'* 
Germ.  XVIII.  -*  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  390,  392. 


I 


158 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


relatives,  o'ercrowed,  however,  by  loud  exultation 
from  friends  of  the  party  of  the  first  part.  Songs 
and  feasting  could  not  have  failed ;  rude  jokes  were 
perhaps  in  season,  and  the  gros  rire  which  lingered 
about  the  occasion  down  to  comparatively  modern 
times.  So  much  of  the  Germanic  function  seems  to 
have  resembled  the  Roman  ceremonies  that  we  feel 
it  a  thousand  pities  to  find  no  chronicler  of  the  words 
spoken  by  the  northern  pair  at  their  betrothal.  What 
was  the  German  equivalent  of  the  Roman  bride's 
simple  declaration :  "  Si  tu  G-aius^  ego  Graia  "  .^  —  a 
piece  of  humility,  by  the  by,  which  if  generally 
known  nowadays  would  distress  honorable  women 
not  a  few.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  formal 
engagement  sufiiced  for  the  beginning  of  married 
life,  and  was  so  regarded  long  after  Christianity  had 
been  introduced  in  Germanic  lands.  The  actual 
ceremony  in  church  took  place  later,  and  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  was  not  allowed  at  all  for  the  marriage 
of  a  widow.^ 

A  few  particulars  from  later  practice  may  be  added 
to  our  guesses  about  the  earlier  affair.  The  wooing, 
or  rather  the  bargain,  was  probably  begun  by  father 
or  friend,  who,  mostly  along  with  the  wooer,  went  on 
his  errand  with  a  great  crowd  of  relatives  and  back- 
ers.2  During  the  negotiations,  our  young  bride- 
groom-to-be sat  silent,  listened  to  the  eloquent  praise 
of  his  own  excellent  differences,  and  like  Messrs. 
Dodson  and  Fogg  under  equally  trying  circum- 
stances, "  looked  as  virtuous  as  possible."     It  is  well 

1  R.  A.  436. 

2  Weinhold,  D.  F.  I.  317,  reminds  us  that  even  god  Freyr  sent  a  mes- 
senger (see  Skirnismal  in  the  Edda)  to  woo  for  him. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 


159 


known  that  this  vicarious  wooing  is  still  practised  in 
the  very  highest  and  in  the  very  lowest  classes  of 
European  society  — the  two  sets  of  conservatives, 
princes  and  peasants.  Again,  the  choice  of  a  wife 
was  not  so  limited  as  now.  There  were  hardly  any 
forbidden  degrees  of  relationship.  Mythology  at 
least  countenances  even  the  marriage  of  brother  and 
sister,!  and  in  historical  times  one  was  at  liberty 
to  marry  a  stepmother,  as  witness  Eadbald  of  Kent 
and  ^thelbald  of  Wessex.  The  deceased  wife's  sis- 
ter, the  brother's  widow,  one's  own  niece,  —  any  one 
of  these  was  a  lawful  mate.  Only  slowly  and  with 
infinite  pains  could  the  church  establish  its  salutary 
discipline  and  the  doctrine  of  forbidden  degrees. 

Early  marriages,  say  both  Caesar  and  Tacitus,^  were 
rare  among  the  Germans.  Rare,  too,  were  second 
marriages,  as  we  are  told  in  the  G-ermania,^  As  for 
the  first  statement,  we  must  remember  what  "  early  " 
would  mean  in  a  Roman's  mouth ;  for  he  was  used  to 
seeing  wives  of  eleven  or  twelve  years  of  age.* 
Again,  in  our  oldest  German  and  English  chronicles 
we  find  records  of  very  early  nuptials.  This  contin- 
ued to  modern  times.  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury 
married  at  fifteen  a  wife  of  twenty-one ;  in  his  Auto- 
biography, all  he  finds  worthy  of  comment  in  the 
affair  is  "  the  disparity  in  years."  However,  Caesar 
and  Tacitus  were  doubtless  right  in  their  geneml 
statement ;  for  it  not  only  squares  with  our  accounts 
of  Germanic  chastity,  but  agrees  with  that  doctrine 

1  See  Weinhold,  D.  F.  I.  359  ff. ;  Lokasenna  (Edda),  144  ff. ;  and  for 
details,  E.  Young,  p.  126  ff.  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Law  Essays,  by  several 
hands,  Boston,  1876. 

2  B.  G.  VI.  21 ;  Germ.  XX.  3  Cap.  XIX. 
*  Jung,  Leben  itnd  Sitten  d.  Romer,  I.  84  f. 


160 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


HUSBAND  AND   WIFE 


161 


of  political  economy  which  makes  marriages  scarce 
in  proportion  to  the  difficulty  of  supporting  families. 
Such  difficulty  was  no  stranger  to  the  German.  As 
regards  the  second  marriage,  the  old  custom  of 
widow-sacrifice  would  give  a  grimly  sufficient  reason 
for  the  female  side.  When  this  custom  ceased,  it  left 
a  strong  sentiment  against  the  second  marriage.  The 
widow  laid  her  keys,  emblem  of  household  rule,  upon 
the  corpse  of  her  husband,  and  they  went  with  him 
into  the  grave.^  So  unusual,  says  Wackernagel,  was 
the  marriage  of  widows  that  it  is  used  as  tragical 

motif. 

Death  was  not  the  only  means  of  breaking  the 
maiTiage  bond;  adultery  —  but,  as  was  said,  only  on 
the  side  of  the  wife  —  destroyed  the  pact.  The  con- 
sequences of  this  crime  have  been  in  part  defined ;  2 
but  the  punishments  savor  of  a  ruthlessness  which 
must  have  corresponded  to  a  great  horror  of  the  of- 
fence. To  kill  her  was  a  clear  privilege  of  the  hus- 
band, but  such  a  punishment  as  to  be  trodden  and 
suffocated  in  mud  or  slime  was  prescribed  for  the 
Burgundian  false  one.  The  Frisian  could  hang, 
burn,  kill  with  sword,  or  even  flay  his  adulterous 
wife.  The  Anglo-Saxon  punishment,  already  quoted, 
is  much  milder  and  falls  on  the  seducer,  who  must 
pay  the  woman's  ^  wergild  and  buy  the  husband 
another  wife.  Perhaps  the  mildness  is  only  accident 
of  omission ;  for  we  are  not  told  what  became  of  the 
guilty  wife.  In  later  tradition  we  get  some  bloody 
and  savage   touches  which  may  well   preserve   the 

^R.A.  176,  453 ;  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  31.       2  See  p.  139,  above. 
8  Some  interpret  it  to  mean  the  man's  own  wergild.    But  see  Schmid. 
p.  5,  note. 


practice  of  an  older  day.  Thus,  among  other  in- 
stances, the  tragic  ballads  of  Old  Robin  of  Portingale 
and  Little  Musgrave  and  Lady  Barnard  agree  in 
making  the  injured  husband  inflict  a  cruel  mutilation 
upon  the  wife.     In  the  first :  — 

Hee  cutt  the  papps  beside  her  brest, 

And  bade  her  wish  her  will ; 
And  he  cut  the  eares  beside  her  head, 

And  bade  her  wish  on  still. 

In  the  second :  — 

He  cut  her  paps  from  off  her  brest ; 

Great  pity  it  was  to  see 
That  some  drops  of  this  ladle's  heart's  blood 

Ran  trickling  downe  her  knee.  ^ 

This  agrees  well  enough  with  the  scene  in  Tacitus, 
an  angry  husband  scourging  the  shorn  and  unclad 
offender  from  his  home  ;  and  it  gives  us  by  contrast 
better  ability  to  appreciate  the  infinite  despair  and 
tenderness  of  Othello's  words :  — 

I  that  am  cruel,  am  yet  merciful ; 

I  would  not  have  thee  linger  in  thy  pain. 

1  Child,  Ballads,2  III.  241,  245. 


162 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FAINIILY 


163 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  FAMILY 

Hospitality  and  gifts  —  Responsibilities  of  the  head  of  a  family  — 
Importance  of  kinship  —  Conflicting  duties  —  Feud  —  Wergild^  and 
other  substitutes  for  feud  —  Paternal  power  —  Exposure  —  Educa- 
tion of  children  —  Names  —  Old  age. 

Established  in  their  home,  the  young  couple  took 
up  a  life  rude  enough  to  our  eyes,  but  not  without 
its  virtues  and  even  its  amenities.  Hospitality  was 
instinctive  in  the  German.  To  be  sure,  the  laws  and 
customs  of  modern  life,  as  they  touch  upon  personal 
property,  are  far  removed  from  the  simple  notions  of 
our  forefathers ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  idea 
of  individual  ownership  has  developed  at  the  expense 
of  that  primitive  generosity.  So  much  may  be 
granted;  yet  the  effort  to  make  this  hospitality  of 
the  Germans  a  proof  of  their  absolute  savagery  —  one 
trait  the  more  to  support  a  parallel  with  modern  Afri- 
cans —  is  by  no  means  to  be  allowed.^  One  is  inclined 
to  prefer  the  exaggerated  praise  of  Tacitus.^  While 
we  may  justly  place  much  of  this  generosity  to  the 
credit  of  an  almost   communal  system  of  property, 

1  Lippert's  admirable  book  on  Culturgeschichte  goes  too  far  iu  this 
direction.  The  author  sees  all  things  in  Africa,  after  the  Malebranche 
fashion  of  his  school. 

2  Oerm.  XXI.    See  also  Caesar  B.  G.  \l.  23. 


enough  of  the   pure  virtue  is  left  to  deserve   our 
admiration.     Savages  do  not  pass  laws  to  promote 
the  magnanimous  treatment  of  guests;  and  the  ordi- 
nances quoted  by  Grimm  must  rest  on  a  very  old 
foundation.!     Thus  we  find  a  penalty  imposed  on  the 
householder  who  may  refuse  shelter  and  fireside  to 
the    traveller;  "shelter,  and  room  by  the   fire,  and 
water,"  —  these  were  not  to  be  denied  under  any 
pretext.2     Even  if  the  guest  had  slain  the  brother  of 
his   host,  —  no    matter;  he   must   come   and  go   in 
safety ;  ^  and  what  that  meant  in  those  days  is  evi- 
dent from  the  song  of  the  two  mill-maids  who  are 
grinding  King  Frodi's  fortune,  and  in  their  descrip- 
tion of  a  universal  peace  can  find  no  climax  better 
than  this :  a  time  when  "  no  man  shall  harm  his  neigh- 
bor .  .  .  nor  smite    with  whetted    sword,  yea,   not 
though  he  find  his  brother's  slayer  hound  before  him,''^ 
Similar  phrases  recur  constantly  in  media3val  poetry 
as   type   of   the    highest   form   of  self-restraint  and 
noble    toleration.     This  hospitality  was   limited,  of 
course,  to  transient  guests  ;  foreigners  who  came  into 
a  country  without  friends  and  kin  behind  them,  and 
made  mien  to  stay,  were  in  danger  of  unfreedom :  a 
year  and  a  day  they  might  bide,  and  after  that  it 
was  often  slavery .^     But  the  wayfaring  man  who  had 
definite  objects  in  view  was  welcome  to  this  bound- 
less  hospitality.     In   later  times  we  find   the    fixed 
custom  that  a  guest  might  tarry  up  to  the  third  day ; 
and  Grimm  quotes  an  Anglo-Saxon  law:  "two  nights 
a   guest,   the    third   night   one   of   the  household."  ^ 

1  R.  A.  399  f.  2  «  Tectum  et  focum  et  aquam  nemo  deneget." 

«  /?.  ^.  400.  *C.P.  B.  I.  185.  6  i?.  A.  399. 

*  See  also  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  p.  286. 


164 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FAMILY 


165 


Interesting  survivals  of  this  doctrine  of  the  three 
days'  grace  occur  in  popular  sayings  and  customs. 
German  doggerel,  more  vigorous  than  elegant,  de- 
clares :  — 

Den  ersten  Tag  ein  Gast, 

den  zweiten  eine  Last, 

den  dritten  stinkt  er  f ast,^  — 

which  is  astonishingly  like  Herrick :  — 

Two  dayes  y'ave  larded  here ;  a  third,  yee  know, 
Makes  guests  and  fish  smell  strong ;  ^  — 

and  both  are  matched  by  a  Latin  effusion, ^  which  is 
perhaps  the  original.  But  Herrick  puts  such  growl- 
ing rudeness  into  the  mouth  "of  some  rough  groom"; 
and  in  conspicuous  antithesis  praises  the  fine  old  hos- 
pitalities of  his  friend  in  words  that  scent  good  cheer 
and  spread  the  honest  savors  of  an  English  kitchen. 
We  may  draw  our  conclusions  of  heredity,  and  fancy 
this  knight  with  his  "  large  ribbes  of  beef  "  an  unmis- 
takable descendant  of  Chaucer's  franklin,  whose 

.  .  .  table  dormant  in  his  halle  alway 
Stood  redy  covered  al  the  longe  day. 

Further,  we  may  think  that  this  ruddy  epicure  him- 
self, in  whose  house  "  hit  snewed  ...  of  mete  and 
drjuke,"  did  nothing  more  than  keep  green  the 
laurels  of  Germanic  hospitality.  For  let  us  listen  to 
Tacitus :  *  "  Banquets  and  hospitality  find  such  favor 

1  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  447. 

2  "  A  Panegerick  to  Sir  Lewis  Pemberton,"  in  the  Hesperides. 

«  Printed  by  Wright,  Reliquix  Antiquse,  I.  91,  and  Domestic  Man- 
ners, etc.,  p.  333. 

*  Germ.  XXI.    See  Caesar  B.  G.  VI.  23,  whose  testimony  is  in  the 

same  strain. 


in  no  other  nation.  To  turn  anybody,  no  matter 
who  he  may  be,  from  one's  door,  is  held  as  a  crime ; 
he  is  entertained  according  to  the  means  of  the  host, 
who  provides  his  best.  When  that  is  gone,  the  host 
becomes  guide  and  companion  to  his  guest,  and  to- 
gether they  seek  the  hospitality  of  some  other  board, 
going  uninvited  into  the  first  convenient  house.  Here 
it  is  the  same  thing;  they  are  received  with  like 
friendliness.  Neighbor  and  stranger  are  made  equally 
welcome.  To  the  parting  guest,  so  custom  ordains, 
is  given  whatever  he  happens  to  desire ;  and  there  is 
equal  freedom  for  the  host  to  ask  something  of  him." 
It  seems  a  little  ungracious  to  ascribe  all  this  to  the 
absence  of  any  notions  about  individual  property  or 
the  value  of  things.  The  astonishing  hospitality  of 
the  Icelanders,  who  harbored  absolute  strangers  an 
entire  winter,  who  kept  a  table  always  ready  for 
chance  visitors  whoever  they  might  be,  and  whose 
very  dogs  were  glad  to  see  a  guest  walk  in,i  —  this 
is  certainly  a  point  or  two  above  the  African  stand- 
ard, in  kind  as  well  as  degree. 

The  guest,  however,  had  certain  forms  with  which 
he  must  comply,  if  he  would  not  run  the  risk  of  be- 
ing cut  down  like  a  thief.  He  must  keep  to  the 
highway,  and  blow  sufficiently  upon  his  horn,  that 
no  mistakes  might  be  made.^  "  If  a  far-come  man,  or 
a  stranger,  go  out  of  the  road  through  the  forest,  and 
do  not  cry  out  nor  blow  his  horn,  he  is  to  be  held  as 
a  thief."  But  if  a  man  were  lost,  or  could  find  no 
house,  he  was  at  liberty  to  cut  standing  corn  for  his 
horse,  —  one  law  says  he  may  let  the  horse  "  tread 


1  Weinhold,  D.  F.  II.  195. 


2  Schmid,  Ags,  Ges.  p.  28. 


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GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


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167 


k : 


into  the  corn  with  his  fore-feet,  and  so  eat,"  —  and 
he  might  hew  a  little  wood  to  mend  his  wagon. 

Of  course,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  along 
with  wider  hospitality  went  narrower  protection  of 
law.  What  law  did  not  require  was  ordained  by  use 
and  tradition;  and  we  may  say  of  the  Germanic 
treatment  of  guests  what  Tacitus  remarks  about  one 
of  the  other  virtues,  —  that  "  good  custom  avails  more 
with  this  people  than  good  laws  elsewhere."  ^  More- 
over, the  family  took  the  place  of  the  state  as  regards 
responsibility  for  a  stranger's  doings.  "  If,"  runs  an 
old  Anglo-Saxon  law,  "  if  a  man,  in  his  own  house, 
harbors  a  stranger  three  nights,  merchant  or  other 
person,  who  has  come  over  the  mark  (boundary),  and 
feeds  him  with  his  meat,  and  [the  stranger]  then 
does  evil  to  any  one,  let  the  host  bring  the  guest  to 
reckoning,  or  do  justice  for  him."^  An  insolent 
guest  might  be  promptly  beaten  by  his  host.^ 

The  custom  of  giving  some  present  to  the  parting 
guest  has  been  mentioned  in  the  passage  from  Taci- 
tus, and  forms  the  subject  of  a  monograph  by  Jacob 
Grimm.*  Of  the  articles  which  a  German  —  prince 
or  freeman  —  was  wont  to  bestow  on  vassal,  friend, 
or  guest,  Grimm  names  land,  which  was  naturally 
the  favor  of  chieftain  or  king,  then  food  and  drink, 
valuable  animals,  clothes,  rings,  and  similar  objects. 
Even  in  the  middle  ages  money  was  little  used  for 
gifts ;  and  we  still  shrink  from  such  a  present  where 
a  definite  object  of  equal  value  would  arouse  no  scru- 
ple.  The  simplest  gift  was  a  glass  of  wine  or  mead ;  ^ 

1  Germ.  XIX.  2  Schmid,  p.  14.  «  Grimm,  R.  A.  744. 

*  Ueber  SchenJcen  xind  Gehen,  Kl.  Schr.  IT.  173  if. 

*  The  double  meaning  of  German  schenken,  **  to  pour  out  "  and  **  to 
give,"  is  thus  explained  by  Grimm. 


and  often  with  the  liquor,  one  gave  the  cup  that  held 
It.     Of  animals,  horses  were  the  favorite  gift,  as  in 
our  BSowulf,  and  we  remember  that  the  price  of  a 
certain   Germanic   bride  was   paid  in  white   horses. 
An  Anglo-Saxon  alliterating  formula  was  mearas  and 
madmas,  "  horses  and  treasure."     Dress  was  often  a 
gift,  as  in  the  Nibelungen  Lay,  where  it  is  coupled 
with  horses.i     Golden  arm-rings  were  the  aristocratic 
present,  — witness  Hildebrand's  last  appeal  for  rec- 
oncihation  with  his  son.     Naturally,  the  course   of 
conquest  and  settlement  made  land  the  gift  which 
men  prized  the  most ;  on  the  border  of  two  epochs, 
and  uniting  the  nomadic  and  the  agricultural  stand- 
ard, may  be  mentioned  the  gift  which  Hygelac  made 
to  Eofor  and  Wulf  when  they  had  slain  his  enemy, 
"  a  hundred  thousand  of  land,  and  twisted  rings  " ;  2 
moreover,  to  Eofor  he  gave  his  own  daughter.     Gen- 
erosity could  go  no  farther. 

These  welcomes  and  gifts,  these  open  doors  and 
inviting  tables  of  the  old  German,  are  not  precisely 
in  tune  with  that  secret  underground  passage  from 
the  house  to  field  or  wood,  which  was  provided  for 
escape  from  the  frequent  raids  and  sieges  of  one's 
neighbors.      The  German's  house  was  not  only  his 
castle,  but  it  was  very  often  a  beleaguered  castle,  the 
refuge  of  his  clan.     For  he  was  the  protector  and 
head  of  his  house ;  all  its  quarrels  were  his  quarrels ; 
and  when  the  family,  or  the  meanest  member  of  it,' 
was  wronged,  he  was  its  avenger.     In  the  same  way, 
he  was  responsible  for  wrongs  done  by  his  family ; 
and  thus  all  his  'relatives  were  bound  with  him  in  a 

1  N.  L.  28  :  "  Den  vremden  und  den  kunden  gab  er  ross  und  gewant  " 
a  B^ow.  2995  ff.  s  '- 


168 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


i' 


common  bond  of  responsibility.  To  inherit  the  fam- 
ily privileges  was  to  inherit  its  duties.  A  law  of 
Cnut  is  very  instructive  as  marking  the  passage  of 
the  Germanic  mind  out  of  the  stern  old  logic  into  a 
temper  of  equity.  "  It  was  once  the  custom,"  says 
our  wise  king,  "  that  the  child  which  lay  in  cradle, 
even  though  it  had  tasted  meat,  was  deemed  by  cove- 
tous men  just  as  guilty  as  if  it  were  possessed  of  its 
understanding  (gewittig').  But  henceforth  I  earnestly 
forbid  this,  together  with  many  other  things  which 
are  loathsome  to  God."  ^  A  law  of  Ine  had  provided 
that  if  a  man  steal  with  the  knowledge  of  his  family, 
they  should  all  go  into  bondage  together.^ 

Thus  the  chief  burden,  as  well  as  the  chief  glory, 
fell  upon  the  head  of  the  house.  To  be  a  father,  or 
the  eldest  son  of  a  widow,  or  the  eldest  of  near  kin 
in  guardianship  of  minors,  carried  with  the  position 
responsibilities  that  now  seem  almost  incredible. 
Such  a  person  was  executor  of  a  code  of  vengeance 
which  we  do  not  know,  simply  because  law  and  the 
administration  of  government  have  taken  its  place. 
"  Revenge,"  said  Bacon,  "  is  a  kind  of  wild  justice  "  ; 
but  it  is  more  exact  to  say  that  justice  is  tamed  and 
ordered  revenge.  The  law  now  stands  in  relation  to 
the  murderer  where  once  stood  the  head  of  the  mur- 
dered man's  family,  who  has  thus  deputed  the  state 
to  perform  his  ancient  duty.^  Despite  a  somewhat 
sophomoric  note,  this  explanation  agrees  with  the 
facts  of  the  case.     But  it  was  a  far  intenser  feeling 

1  Schmid,  p.  312,  76,  §  2.  ^  ibid.  p.  24,  7,  §  1. 

8  Lex  Angl.  et  Wer.  VI.  (and  Uhland,  Kl  Schr.  I.  218) :  "  Ad  quem- 
cumque  hereditas  terrse  pervenerit,  ad  ilium  vestis  bellica,  id  est  lorica, 
et  lUtio  proximi,  et  solutio  leudis,  debet  pertinere." 


THE  FAMILY 


169 


that  then  filled  the  avenger  of  blood,  than  any  abstract 
severities  of   our  modern   justice;   for  it  knew  no 
extenuating  circumstances,  and  did  not  sunder  one 
motive  from  another.^     It  had  the  tremendous  sanc- 
tions of  religion.     By  the  old  belief,  by  the  cult  of 
family   manes,   an   unappeased    parent-soul   hovered 
about  the  very  hearthstone,  a  perturbed  spirit  only  to 
be  brought  to  rest  by  the  grateful  blood  of  the  mur- 
derer offered  by  son  or  kinsman.     So  the  sense  of  kin 
took  just  precedence  of  all  human  bonds ;  and  in  the 
swan-song  of  Germanic  mythology,  the  Vqluspa,  our 
sibyl  can  find  no  sign  of  impending  doom  so  certain 
and  disastrous  as  the  breaking  up  of  family  ties: 
"  Brother  shall  fight  against  brother,  and  they  shall 
turn  to  murderers ;  cliildren  of  one  parent  shall  bring 
shame  upon  their  race.  .  .  .     Adultery  shall  flour- 
ish." 2 

In  this  kindly  soil  of  the  family  flourished  such 
growth  of  sentiment  as  that  rough  life  brought  forth. 
Peace,  good-will,  the  sense  of  honor,  loyalty  to  friend 
and  kinsman,  brotherly  affection,  all  were  plants  that 
found  in  the  Germanic  home  that  congenial  warmth 
they  needed  for  their  earliest  stages  of  growth.  The 
double  notion  of  blood-relationship  and  mutual  peace 
is  shown  by  a  passage  in  our  oldest  English  poem, 
Widsi'6 :  — 

Hrothwulf  and  Hrothgar  held  the  longest 
open  concord,  uncle  and  nephew, 
after  they  routed  the  race  of  Wicings, 
fell'd  the  pride  of  the  power  of  Ingeld, 
hew'd  down  at  Heorot  the  Heathobard's  line.* 

1  See  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  I.  81. 

2  Hildebrand,  Edda,  p.  12.    Metaphors  of  the  family,  C.P.B.  II  473  ff 

3  vv.  46-49. 


170 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE  FAMILY 


171 


i^ 


Pretty,  moreover,  is  the  old  "  kenning,"  or  meta- 
phor for  "wife,"  —  the  weaver  (or  maker)  of  peace ; 
whether  with  Grimm  we  explain  it  as  referring  to  the 
household   union,i   or  because   a   marriage   brought 
together  two  families  and  tended  to  set  aside  feuds.2 
Situations  akin  to  that  of  Rodrigue  and  Chimene  in 
the   Cid  may  well  have   burdened   many  Germanic 
lives,  as  witness  an  episode  of  the  Beowulf,^    Frea- 
waru,  daughter  of  the  Danish  Hrothgar,  is  married 
to  Ingeld,  son  of  a  prince  who  has  been  slain  in  battle 
against  Hrothgar's  forces ;  and  the  marriage  is  meant 
to  put  aside  the  necessity  of  blood-revenge.     For  a 
while  Ingeld  forgets  his  wrongs ;  but  an  old  warrior 
of  his  train  *  spurs  him  to  vengeance,  which  is  all  the 
more  easily  suggested  by  the  insolence  of  a  young 
Danish  noble,  attendant  upon  his  countrywoman  and 
princess,  who  wears,  in  open  sight  of  all,  the  sword 
once  wielded   by  King   Froda,  the   fallen   father  of 
Ingeld.     Then  oaths  are  broken,  "  the  love  of  woman 
grows  cooler  in  Ingeld  after  he  has  felt  the  waves  of 
care,"  and  blood  must  flow  for  blood. 

Evidently  it  was  a  good  thing  to  belong  to  some 
large  clan,  and  an  honorable  thing  to  be  its  leader. 
Thus  the  power  of  King  Hrothgar  is  described  by  the 
poet  as  based  upon  his  increasing  authority  over  kin 
and  clan.^ 

Such  speed  of  war  was  sent  to  Hrothgar, 
honor  of  battle,  that  all  his  kin 
obeyed  him  gladly,  till  grown  were  the  youth, 
the  crowd  of  clansmen.  .  .  . 

1  Andreas  und  Elene,  p.  144  f. 

2  See  also  such  a  name  for  a  queen  as  frilSu-sibh  folca,  "  peace-kin 
of  peoples,"  the  relative  who  brings  peace  to  clans.    Beow.  2017. 

8  2021  ff.    See,  for  Danish  parallels,  Miillenhoff,  Beovulf,  p.  42  f. 
4  In  Saxo's  story  it  is  the  fierce  Starcatherus.  *  Bioto.  64  ff. 


That  is,  he  was  head  of  the  family,  and  his  kin  were 
glad  to  acknowledge  it  and  serve  him.  The  youths 
springing  up  in  his  service  are  partly  kinsmen,  partly 
the  "retainers"  or  comitatus^  a  peculiar  Germanic 
institution  which  we  shall  presently  consider.  The 
value  set  upon  the  ties  of  a  family  is  shown  by  cer- 
tain verses  in  the  Old  Saxon  paraphrase  of  the  gos- 
pels, the  Heliand,  It  is  the  passage  of  St.  Matthew 
which  makes  it  profitable  for  us  that  one  of  our  mem- 
bers should  perish,  and  not  that  the  whole  body 
should  be  cast  into  hell.  As  Vilmar  points  out,^  the 
German  laughed  at  scars,  and  found  more  sport  than 
sorrow  in  the  notion  of  mutilation.  So  the  translator 
adds  in  explanation  a  far  more  terrible  alternative,  — 
separation  from  one's  kin.  ''Better  to  throw  thy 
friend  far  from  thee,  however  close  the  sihUa,  the 
kinship,  may  be,"  than  to  let  him  lead  thee  into  sin. 

The  family  tie  engendered  the  earliest  notions  of 
duty,  whether  to  the  living  or  to  the  dead ;  and  this 
sense  of  duty  is  the  moral  foundation  of  all  Germanic 
history.  Alive,  the  head  of  the  house  exacted  obedi- 
ence and  respect,  fostered  order  and  justice ;  dead,  he 
was  the  object  of  cult,  grew  mightier  with  lapse  of 
time,  and  as  a  tribal  god  sanctioned  wider  and  deeper 
laws  of  society.  His  fireplace  was  the  primitive  coun- 
cil chamber ;  his  grave  was  the  primitive  altar.  Orig- 
inally the  family  or  clan  made  a  definite  sphere  or 
system  of  life ;  outside  of  it  the  homeless  man  felt 
indeed  that  chaos  had  come  again.  The  heaviest 
punishment  was  expulsion  from  the  family ;  2  and 
banishment,  the  crown  of  sorrow  for   a  German,  is 

1  Work  quoted,  p.  67.    Heliand,  ed.  Heyne,  1492  ff. 

2  See  Dahn,  Bausteine,  II.  79  ff.,  on  Family  and  State. 


172 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FAMILY 


173 


•J 


■1 


i\ 


a  topic  repeatedly  touched  upon  in  Anglo-Saxon 
poetry .1  The  wretched  victim  of  such  a  fate  was 
cut  off  from  all  protection  of  law  and  order,  and  re- 
nounced the  benefits  of  civilization.  Thus  at  the 
other  extreme  of  fortune  from  the  proud  head  of  a 
proud  and  powerful  clan  stood  the  clanless  man,  the 
exile,  the  outlaw,  who  had  no  protecting  relative,  no 
strong  kinsman,  no  "  gold-friend  and  lord."  Those 
touching  Anglo-Saxon  lyrics,  The  Wanderer  and  The 
Seafarer y  mourn  such  a  fate. 

The  head  of  the  narrower  family  in  normal  circum- 
stances was  the  father.  The  fatherhood  of  God  ap- 
peals with  peculiar  force  to  the  German.  Thus,  as  it 
would  seem,  when  the  poet  of  BSoivulf  tells  of  the 
murder  of  Abel  and  of  the  doom  of  Cain,  he  treats  the 
punishment  as  an  act  of  vengeance  undertaken  by 
God  for  one  of  his  human  children.^  Severe  enough, 
too,  seemed  Cain's  punishment.  He  was  "  banished 
from  his  own  kind,"  direst  penalty  short  of  death. 
With  such  notions  of  the  power  and  privilege  of 
fathers,  the  Aryan  horror  of  parricide  can  be  under- 
stood. Not  without  interest  for  mediaeval  sentiment 
on  this  theme  is  an  account  quoted  by  Kemble  ^ 
from  Barbazan's  Fabliaux  et  Contes,  as  a  parallel  to 
Solomon's  famous  decision.     Two  princes  —  brothers 

quarrel  about  their  inheritance.  The  father's  corpse 

is  set  before  them,  and  it  is  announced  that  he  who 
shall  drive  his  spear  furthest  into  the  body  is  to 
be  the    heir.      "The    elder  strikes   home;   but  the 

1  Lingering  in  words  like  our  **  wretch,"  or  German  Elend  (Elland). 

2  B^ow.  107  ff.    The  use  of  words  like  geiorsec  "  wreaked,  avenged," 
axidfsdhtSe,  "  feud,"  as  applied  to  the  crime,  surely  upholds  this  notion. 

8  Salomon  and  Saturn,  p.  106.    He  thinks  the  source  of  the  story  is 
Cap.  XLV.  of  the  Gesta  Romanorum. 


younger,  detesting  the  impiety,  prefers  losing  all 
share  in  the  inheritance  to  mangling  the  corse :  he  is 
in  consequence,  by  consent  of  all  the  barons,  put  in 
possession  of  the  principality."  In  an  age  which 
was  full  of  murder  and  sudden  death,  which  saw  no 
crime  in  the  open  killing  of  a  man,  this  horror  of 
parricide  is  significant  enough.  Such  a  deed  struck  at 
the  very  heart  of  social  order  and  religious  sanctions. 
To  the  simple  mind  of  those  days  it  seemed  a  good 
thing  to  rivet  this  family  bond  by  gifts.  II  a  young 
prince,  says  the  poet  of  BSowulf  will  only  give  rich 
gifts  to  his  father's  friends  and  kin,  he  may  count  in 
his  old  age  upon  comrades  glad  to  help  him  and  stand 
by  him  in  stress  of  war.^  For  such  pains  and  benefits 
of  kindred  were  not  bandied  about  indiscriminately ; 
they  were  guarded  with  scrupulous  care  and  kept  at  a 
proper  value.  Hence,  too,"  we  find  in  all  older  dialects 
a  multiplicity  of  names  to  express  relationship  by 
blood ;  and  richer  even  than  Germanic,  are  the  Sla- 
vonic, Lithuanian,  and  Finnish,  which,  as  Grimm  has 
noted,2  longest  kept  up  the  primitive  ways.  When 
this  genuine  relationship  failed,  the  German  could 
enter  upon  an  artificial  one.  It  is  true  that  adoption, 
as  a  means  of  increasing  one's  family,  was  hardly  a 
Germanic  custom ;  ^  but  the  so-called  blood-brother- 
hood was  a  special  device  of  our  ancestors,  and  popular 
enough.  We  know  it  best  in  its  Scandinavian  form. 
Two  youths,  often  foster-brothers,  cut  each  the  palm  of 

1  B40W.  20  ff.  2  G,  2).  5.8  p.  92  f . 

8  Dahn,  Bausteine,  II.  82  ff.  Scherer  sees  a  trace  of  adoption  in 
Beow.  868  ff.  The  Danes  praise  Be'owulf  and  say  he  would  be  a  good 
king ;  they  wish  Hrothgar,  says  Scherer,  to  adopt  the  hero.  Zeitschri/t 
f.  oesterr.  Gymnas.  for  1869,  p.  98.  See  also  Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil. 
II.  2. 140. 


174 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FAMILY 


175 


the  hand  and  let  the  blood  run  from  it  into  a  hollow- 
in  the  ground ;  here  their  blood  mingled  while  they 
grasped  hands  and  swore  brotherhood  for  life.  More 
solemn  ceremony,  with  intricate  symbolism,  consisted 
in  their  taking  the  oath  as  they  kneeled  under  strips 
of  turf  .1  Thus  their  blood  became  one,  they  were  kin, 
and  on  each  devolved  the  sacred  duty  of  avenging  the 
other ;  such  an  artificial  relative  could  even  claim  his 
share  of  the  wergild.  Sometimes  the  two  held  their 
goods  in  .common.  How  vivid  must  have  seemed  to 
the  German  that  passage  of  Genesis  where  the  blood  of 
a  slain  brother  cries  from  the  ground !  As  usual,  myth 
has  absorbed  the  human  relation  :  Odin  and  Loki  are 
said  once  to  have  sworn  brotherhood.  Loki,  detected 
mischief-maker,  comes  unbidden  to  a  banquet  of  the 
gods,  where  "  not  one  speaks  a  good  word  for  him." 
The  situation  is  dramatic.^ 

Loki.  Thirsty,  I,  Loki,  came  to  this  hall  .  .  .to  beg  the 
Anses  give  me  but  one  draught  of  the  goodly  mead.  Why 
sit  ye  so  silent,  ye  moody  gods,  speaking  no  word  ?  .  .  . 

Bragi.  The  Anses  will  never  give  thee  seat  or  place  at  this 
banquet.  .  .  . 

Loki.  Dost  thou  remember,  Odin,  how  we  two  in  days  of  old 
blended  blood  together  Y  Thou  sworest  never  to  taste  ale  imless 
we  drank  together. 

Odin.  Get  up  then,  Widar,  and  let  the  Wolf's  father  [sc. 
Loki]  sit  down  to  the  banquet,  that  Loki  may  not  make  mock 
of  us  here  in  Eager's  hall.^ 

1  See  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2. 146  f.,  Grimm, 
G.  D.  S.2  96  f .,  and  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Lehen,  p.  287  f.  The  general  cus- 
tom was  by  no  means  specially  Germanic,  as  Grimm's  investigation 
shows :  examples,  R.  A.  192  f. 

2  Translation  is  from  the  C.  P.  B.  1. 102.  Lokasenna,  6  ff.,  in  Hilde- 
brand's  Edda,  p.  35  f. 

8  Grimm  {0.  D.  5.2  97)  reminds  us  of  the  same  relation  between 
Gunnar  and  Sigurd. 


Blood-brotherhood  is  a  very  pretty  word  for  our 
ears  ;  but  in  the  brave  old  days  it  was  no  metaphor. 
The  soul  was  thought  to  abide  chiefly  in  the  warm 
blood,  as  well  as  in  the  breath  and  the  eyes.  "  Heart 
and  eyes  "  were  the  main  thing,  as  can  be  learned 
from  many  a  later  folk-song.  We  need  not  discuss 
the  question  of  survivals  from  an  age  of  universal 
cannibalism ;  ^  there  is  no  doubt  that  with  our  ances- 
tors, as  with  Mephistopheles  and  his  brethren,  blood 
was  "  ein  ganz  besondrer  Saft,"  —  though  the  signa- 
ture in  one's  blood  is  only  an  academic  fancy.  The 
old  notion  was  to  acquire  the  courage  and  spirit  of 
a  slain  enemy  by  drinking  his  blood ;  and  vague  sur- 
vivals of  this  are  rife  in  Scandinavian  tradition. 
Blood  is  the  abode  and  source  of  life.  Blood  brings 
a  life  glow  into  the  cheeks  of  the  dead,  and  loosens 
the  tongue  of  Teiresias  in  prophetic  speech,  as  Odys- 
seus, in  that  unrivalled  scene,  stands  by  the  trench 
filled  with  blood,  and  the  pale  shades  flock  about 
him,  eager  to  drink.  In  the  burning  hall  of  Attila, 
Hagen  and  the  Burgundian  king  ward  off  the  effects 
of  fearful  heat  by  drinking  the  blood  of  the  slain  that 
lie  about  them,  —  here  merely  a  touch  of  fantastic 
horror,  quite  forgetful  of  the  original  meaning.  Blood 
mixed  with  honey  we  meet  in  Norse  myth.  Kvasir 
is  the  wisest  of  men.  He  is  slain  by  the  dwarfs  Fialar 
and  Galar,  who  mix  his  blood  with  honey ;  whoever 
drinks  of  this  becomes  a  poet  or  a  seer.  Eating  the 
heart  is  a  tradition  deep-rooted  in  Germanic  mythol- 
ogy, and  later  it  was  a  characteristic  of  witches,  who 
fell  heir  to  most  of  the  earlier  habits  of  Asgard.     It 

1  Cf.  Lippert,  Cnlturges.  1. 61  f.    Religion  der  europ.  Culturvolkerf 
p.  48. 


I 


176 


GEKMANIC  ORIGINS 


is  needless  to  insist  on  modern  survivals  in  proverb 
and  tradition;  "blood,"  we  say,  "will  tell,"  or  it 
"  runs  thicker  than  water." 

The  ties  of  blood  being  the  most  sacred  known  to 
the  ancients,  the  one  band  of  society,  the  beginning 
and  chief  sanction  of  religion,  it  was  natural  that  any 
conflict  of  duty,  any  case  of  doubt  which  way  the 
claim  of  blood  should  draw  one,  must  have  formed 
chief  material  for  their  tragedy.  Known  in  some 
form  all  over  the  world,  this  tragic  motive  was  de- 
veloped among  our  forefathers  with  a  simple  grandeur 
which  stands  alone  in  history.  Laius  and  (Edipus  as 
tragic  victims  rank  no  whit  higher  for  grandeur  of 
conception  than  Hildebrand  and  Hathubrand,  or 
Ruedeger  of  Bechelaren  in  the  Nibelungen  Lay.^  The 
episode  of  Ruedeger  outweighs  a  hundred  tragedies. 
A  vassal  of  the  Hunnish  king,  he  meets  the  Burgun- 
dian  guests  as  they  enter  Attila's  dominions,  receives 
them  in  his  own  palace,  and  gives  his  daughter  to 
the  youngest  of  the  brother-kings.  When  the  great 
struggle  in  the  burning  hall  grows  almost  hopeless 
for  Kriemhild,  she  bids  Ruedeger,  as  her  husband's 
sworn  man  and  vassal,  to  go  into  the  hall  and  slay  or 
bind  her  own  brethren,  of  whom  young  Giselher  is  the 
elected  son-in-law  of  Ruedeger.  What  shall  he  do  ? 
"  God  help  me,"  he  cries  ;  "  would  that  I  were  dead ! " 
Whatever  he  decides,  his  honor  must  be  tainted,  — 
to  war  against  his  own  kin,  or  to  desert  his  chieftain 
in  his  time  of  need ;  the  agony  of  doubt  was  never 

1  Many  other  examples  will  occur  to  the  student  of  tragedy,  ancient 
or  modern,  — Orestes,  Hamlet,  Rodrigue,  and  many  more.  The  sacred 
duty  of  revenging  one's  kindred  or  friends  was  the  soul  of  feud,  and 
fills  Aryan  literature  from  Achilles  down  to  Hamlet. 


THE   FAMILY 


177 


painted  with  such  naked  force.  Heavy-hearted,  he 
obeys  his  lord,  and  goes  to  a  brave  though  unwel- 
come combat  and  to  a  welcome  death.  Further, 
there  is  a  little  episode  in  Beowulf,  —  hardly  an 
episode,  one  may  say,  but  a  mere  hint,  —  where 
King  Hrethel's  oldest  son,  Herebeald,  is  killed  by  a 
purely  accidental  shot  from  the  bow  of  the  second 
son,  Hsethcyn.i  The  old  king  pines  away,  not  in  our 
modern  grief,  but  because  of  the  relentless  misery  of 
irreconcilable  relations  with  the  second  son,  —  the 
duty,  as  avenger,  of  killing  him,  and  the  paternal 
duty  of  protecting  one's  own  offspring.  For  our 
forefathers,  the  tragedy  of  this  situation  needed  no 
words:  an  allusion  was  enough.  The  famous  saga 
of  the  Volsungs  records  still  another  case.  Siggeir 
and  Signy  are  man  and  wife ;  but  Siggeir  has  killed 
Signy's  father  and  all  her  brothers  except  Sigmund. 
Signy,  as  a  duty  to  her  kin,  does  all  she  can  to  help 
her  brother  accomplish  his  revenge  against  her  hus- 
band. At  last  the  hall  of  Siggeir  is  set  in  flames, 
and  there  is  no  hope  for  him.  Then  Signy,  in  spite 
of  all  appeals  from  her  brother,  kisses  him  farewell 
and  goes  into  the  burning  hall  to  die,  as  befits  a 
Germanic  wife,  at  the  side  of  her  husband.  Exag- 
gerated, unnatural,  void  of  all  sweetness  and  light, 
this  story  is  nevertheless  full  of  a  wild  energy,  like 
the  times  that  brought  it  forth. 

This  wild  energy,  the  provocations  and  opportuni- 
ties of  such  a  life,  led,  of  course,  to  ceaseless  feuds. 
Such  a  state  of  things  became  impossible ;  a  race  of 
men  cannot  go  on  forever  cutting  their  own  throats, 
and  the  race  itself  seems  to  make  from  time  to  time 

1  B^oiv.  2438  ff. 


178 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FAMILY 


179 


1 


an  almost  individual  effort  at  self-preservation,  re- 
form, and  progress.  So  came  the  great  step  of  civili- 
zation which  compounded  a  murder  by  payment  of  a 
definite  price.  Probably  it  began,  as  was  only  just, 
with  cases  of  accidental  killing  or  maiming.  This 
wergild^  or  man-price,  indicates  system,  organization, 
and  offers  sure  evidence  of  incipient  political  life.  It 
was  already  known  in  the  time  of  Tacitus ;  and  was 
reckoned  in  terms  of  flocks  and  herds.  The  sum  was 
fixed  according  to  the  rank,  birth,  and  office  of  the 
person  killed;  and  was  paid  to  those  whose  duty 
would  otherwise  compel  them  to  take  vengeance  for 
the  deed.  The  wergild  for  women  varied ;  ^  now  it 
was  the  same  as  that  of  a  man,  now  only  half  as 
much ;  but  for  a  pregnant  woman  the  price  rose  very 
high.2  Kings  generally  stood  quite  above  any  such 
provisions,  except  in  a  few  Anglo-Saxon  laws.  But 
let  us  hear  what  Tacitus  has  to  say  about  the  whole 
matter  of  revenge  and  composition  for  murder.  "  It 
is  a  duty,"  he  says,  "  to  take  up  as  an  inheritance  the 
feuds  of  one's  father  or  relatives.  And  yet  these 
feuds  are  not  proof  against  all  settlement  (nee  im- 
placahiles  durant)  ;  even  murder  is  compounded  with 
the  payment  of  a  definite  number  of  cattle  or  other 
animals,  and  the  whole  family  receives  the  price. . . ."  ^ 
We  can  see  how  eagerly  kings  would  foster  this  check 
on  unlimited  feud ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  note 
the  prominent  place  given  to  the  wergild  in  all 
systems  of  Germanic  law.  First  of  his  secular  laws 
stands  King  Edmund's  decree  in  regard  to  murder 

1  Of  course  these  are  mainly  mediaeval  distinctions,  but  seem  of 
primitive  origin. 

2  R.  A.  404  f.  8  Qerm.  XXI. 


and  the  wergild  ;  let  the  murderer,  of  whatever  rank 
(sy  8wd  boren  swd  he  sy),  bear  the  vengeance  that  is 
due  unless  he  can  pay  the  full  price  within  twelve 
months ;  and  if  any  of  his  relatives  harbor  or  help  him, 
they,  too,  are  liable  to  the  act  of  revenge.^  Even  where 
a  man  has  made  himself  hated  far  and  wide  by  crimes 
of  every  sort,  his  murder  must  be  compounded. 
Gregory  of  Tours  tells  this  of  one  nicknamed  Avus, 
who  after  manifold  sins  was  killed  in  a  quarrel  by  a 
servant  of  his  adversarv.  The  latter,  however,  was 
forced  to  pay  proper  ivergild  to  the  sons  of  the  dead 


man.2 

In  course  of  time,  fines  were  set  not  simply  for 
murder,  but  for  every  sort  of  wound;  they  were 
assessed,  much  in  the  fashion  of  our  modern  "  dam- 
ages "  for  accident,  in  proportion  to  the  importance 
of  the  bodily  loss,  —  eye,  hand,  limb,  or  what  not. 
The  following  law  of  -^thelberht  marks  progress 
indeed :  "  If  one  man,  with  his  fist,  strikes  another 
upon  the  nose,  [the  fine  is]  three  shillings."^  As  to 
the  price  itself,  there  is  great  variation  in  different 
places.  From  a  hundred  "shillings"  up  to  very 
large  sums,  the  price  was  fixed  according  to  the  rank 
of  the  slain,  —  freeman,  noble,  king's  thane,  and  so 
on.  The  church  had  part  in  the  system,  and  ecclesi- 
astics enjoyed  a  high  wergild.  But  to  define  these 
values  would  be  a  task  almost  as  useless  as  hopeless.* 

Feud,  which  this  system  was  meant  to  lay  aside, 
seems  to  have  been  a  wide  word.  It  included  the 
strained  relations  between  King  Hrethel  and  his  son, 

1  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  p.  176.       2  Qr^g^  Xiir.  VII.  13.       s  Schmid,  p.  6. 
*  See  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.,  Glossary,  under  Wergild ;  Grimm,  R.  A.  272, 
289 ;  Kemble,  Saxons^  I.  269  fif. 


180 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FAMILY 


181 


11    .! 


li  . 
i   ; 


I'   ! 


I"'       ' 


t     t 


the  murder  of  Abel,  GrendeFs  direful  raids  upon  the 
hall  "  Heort,"  and  of  course  the  hostility  between  two 
families  or  clans,  the  private  shedding  of  blood  for 
blood.  There  was  utmost  need  to  curb  this  ferocity 
of  the  Germanic  temperament.  Maurer  records  a  case 
among  the  Norsemen,  who  kept  longest  and  strongest 
the  old  traditions,  of  children  who  would  not  play 
with  a  companion  until  he  had  at  least  killed  some 
wild  animal.^  The  Scandinavian  annals  and  legends 
are  full  of  such  stories,  in  contrast  to  the  records  of 
Slavonic  races,  who  have  always  been  averse  to  the 
feud.  We  open  the  Eyilssaga^^  and  find  that  a  certain 
man  has  two  sons,  one  of  whom,  Egil,  "  is  said  to  have 
begun  to  make  verses  in  his  third  year,  and  in  his 
seventh  year  killed  a  boy  who  had  affronted  him  at  a 
game  of  ball."  Another  boy  of  nine  could  boast  that 
he  had  killed  three  men ;  and  Olaf  Tryggvason  at  the 
same  age  took  up  a  feud  and  avenged  his  foster-father. 
Instructive  is  the  dialogue,  ascribed  to  Egil,  between 
the  earl's  daughter  and  the  boy  who  is  her  partner  at 
table.^  She  despises  such  a  youthful  gallant:  "Thou 
hast  never  given  a  warm  meal  to  the  wolf  (i.e.  slain 
men  in  battle).  .  .  ."  And  the  boy  answers :  "I  have 
walked  with  bloody  brand  and  whistling  spear,  with 
the  wound-bird  following  me.  .  .  ."  Such  were  the 
credentials  of  good  society.  To  keep  to  the  strict  line 
of  the  feud,  we  find  Grettir  coming  back  to  Iceland, 
after  a  long  absence,  to  learn  that  his  father  is  dead 
and  his  brother  slain.  "  After  he  had  visited  his 
mother,  the  first  errand  was  to  his  brother's  baneman 

1  Bekehrung  d.  norweg.  Stamme,  II.  172. 

2  See  P.  E.  MuUer,  Sagabibl  1. 112. 

8  C.  P.  B.  I.  373,  whence  the  translation. 


(murderer)  whom  he  speedilj^  killed."  ^  So  in  Viga 
Styr's  saga,  Styr  boasts  that  he  has  killed  thirty-three 
men  and  never  paid  a  penny  of  wergild.  Later,  he 
meets  death  at  the  hand  of  a  youth  whose  father  he 
had  killed  and  to  whom  he  contemptuously  refused 
the  price  of  composition.^  Earlier  accounts,  and  from 
a  different  country,  record  the  same  deep-rooted  Ger- 
manic love  of  the  feud,  of  bloodshed  and  revenge. 
The  Franks  were  so  ferocious  in  their  vengeance  that 
they  even  infected  their  Roman  neighbors  and  sub- 
jects.^ One  story  out  of  many  may  illustrate  the 
Frankish  spirit.  A  queen,  who  in  life  had  been  a 
monster  of  crime  and  oppression,  lay  on  her  death-bed. 
Before  she  gave  up  the  ghost,  however,  she  demanded 
companions  in  her  death,"  in  order  that  at  her  funeral 
others  should  be  wept  for  besides  herself."  She  called 
the  king,  and  complaining  that  the  medicine  which 
had  been  given  her  by  her  physicians  was  the  cause  of 
her  death,  made  him  swear  that,  as  soon  as  she  died, 
these  two  doctors  should  be  slain  with  the  sword ; 
and  it  was  done.^  Sometimes  the  tragedy  shades 
down  into  comedy.  A  Scandinavian  saga  tells  of  a 
man  who  was  hit  on  the  neck  by  an  iron  pan,  thrown 
in  a  quarrel,  and  was  slightly  injured.  Some  years 
later,  wooing  a  certain  woman  for  his  wife,  he  is  re- 
jected by  her  relatives  because  he  has  never  taken 
vengeance  on  him  who  hurled  the  pan.^ 

Sullenly  and  slowly  feud  yielded  its  rights  to  a 
system    of    fines,  —  punishment  would    have    been 

1  Miiller,  Sagabibl.  I.  254.  2  ibid.  I.  37  ff. 

8  Loebell,  Gregor  v.  Toztrs,  p.  83. 

*  Greg.  Tur.  V.  35.    See  also  Loebell,  work  quoted,  pp.  38,  41  ff. 

s  Dahn,  Bausteine,  p.  104. 


182 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FAMILY 


183 


1 


I 


U 


impossible,  —  ^nd  did  not  come  to  an  end,  so  far  as 
Germany  was  concerned,  until  the  close  of  the  fif- 
teenth century .1  Where  the  feud  would  not  yield  to 
the  payment  of  a  price,  men  turned  to  a  quasi-process 
of  law  deftly  hidden  in  the  guise  of  warfare.  At  first 
sight,  trial  by  battle  as  a  legal  remedy  looks  absurd 
enough ;  might  is  still  right,  as  in  the  feud.  We  for- 
get, however,  that  the  old  feud  left  no  avenue  open 
for  any  sort  of  justice,  and  made  the  innocent  suffer 
in  shoals  for  a  wrong,  —  perhaps  a  right,  —  done  by 
one  man  who  happened  to  be  of  their  kin.  Blood  was 
the  test.  The  punishment  was  not  only  inherited,  as 
in  our  commandment,  but  collateral.  Kemble  ^  quotes 
the  indignant  reproach  of  Wiglaf  to  the  thanes  who 
have  deserted  their  prince  :  every  member  of  their 
clan,  every  relative,  he  says,  shall  pay  for  the  coward- 
ice of  these  few  men.  For  as  the  clan  all  shared  in 
the  wergild^  so  they  were  exposed  to  the  feud :  "  re- 
cipit,"  says  Tacitus  of  the  former,  "  universa  domus."  ^ 
Accident,  moreover,  was  no  excuse  ;  a  mere  bit  of 
carelessness  might  lead  to  the  death  of  a  dozen  inno- 
cent relatives  of  the  innocent  cause  of  feud.  The 
famous  myth  of  Balder  shows  this  stern  doctrine  that 
accident,  so  far  as  the  blood-feud  is  concerned,  must 
be  reckoned  one  with  crime.  Blind  H9dhr  is  inno- 
cent, in  our  eyes,  of  his  brother's  death  ;^  but  the 

1  In  the  Diet  of  Worms,  1495.  See  Arnold,  Deutsche  Urzeit,  p.  342. 
But  the  Fehde  of  German  nobles  in  the  middle  ages  was  not  the  same 
thing  as  the  older  feud,  the  former  being  a  sort  of  armed  law-suit.  For 
Anglo-Saxon  feud  and  composition,  see  Kemble,  Saxons,  I.  Chap.  X. 

2  Saxons,  1 1.  235.    Beoio.  2884  ff . 

3  Germ.  XXI. 

*  Loki  puts  in  his  hand  the  fatal  mistletoe  twig,  and  bids  him  cast  it 
in  sport  at  Balder. 


avenger,  Wali,  by  the  usual  Germanic  vow,^  neither 
washes  himself  nor  combs  his  hair  till  he  has  killed 
H9dhr.  Beda  tells  a  story  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  war- 
rior who  was  left  for  dead  upon  the  battle-field,  came 
to  life,  and  was  captured  by  the  enemy.  Fearing 
death  if  he  made  himself  known,  he  said  he  was  a 
poor  rustic;  but  when  the  "count"  who  held  him 
prisoner,  amazed  at  certain  miraculous  circumstances, 
asked  him  who  he  really  was,  and  promised  him  his 
life,  the  warrior  confessed  all.  "  Thou  art  worthy  of 
of  death,"  answ^ers  the  king,  "  because  all  my  brothers 
and  relatives  fell  in  that  battle  ;  ^  nevertheless,  for  my 
vow's  sake,  I  will  not  kill  thee." 

When  this  wide  swath  of  injustice  is  considered, 
the  single  case  of  a  combatant  in  the  trial  by  battle 
seems  justice  itself,  —  though  trial  by  battle  is  only  a 
circumscribed  and  legalized  feud.  Compare  the  Ice- 
landic holmgang^  or  duel,  with  the  wholesale  murders 
of  a  feud  like  that  described  in  the  Nialssaga,  Simi- 
larly, the  other  forms  of  ordeal  seem  absurd;  not, 
however,  if  we  regard  them  as  the  institution  of  men 
who  began  to  see  that  right  was  better  than  might, 
and  believed  that  God  would  defend  the  innocent 
and  confound  the  guilty.  J.  Grimm,  in  his  account^ 
of  the  ordeal,  assumes  that  only  the  nobler  phase  of 
it,  trial  by  battle,  was  a  frequent  form  of  justice  for 
the  freeman ;  though  both  ordeal  and  duel  strike  their 

1  So  (Germ.  XXXI.)  among  the  Chatti,  where  the  custom  of  letting 
beard  and  hair  grow  till  one  has  killed  his  man,  is  not  confined  to 
special  feuds,  but  is  universal.  After  a  great  victory  over  the  Romans, 
Civilis  "laid  aside  his  hair,"  —  '^barbaro  voto  .  .  ,  propexum.  rutila- 
tumque  crinem  .  .  .  deposuit.^*    Tac.  Hist.  IV.  61. 

2  See  Baedje  Hist.  Ecc,  ed.  Holder,  IV.  22.  '*  Quia  omnes  fratres  et 
cognati  mei  in  ilia  sunt  pugna  interemti."  ^  ^.  ^,  908-937. 


;'l 


184 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


roots  deep  into  our  heathen  antiquity.  Divination  and 
lots  were  also  regarded  as  an  ordeal,  and  expressed  the 
will  of  the  gods. 

Trial  by  battle  was  known  by  the  Germans  of 
Tacitus,  and  was  regarded  as  an  appeal  to  higher 
powers.  He  mentions  ^  the  strange  custom  of  decid- 
ing the  event  of  battle  by  a  duel  fought  between 
some  captive  of  the  enemy  and  a  representative  of 
the  home  army ;  the  result  of  this  duel  was  accepted 
as  an  infallible  sign  of  the  greater  issue.  Champions, 
too,  might  fight  for  their  respective  armies,  —  like 
the  Horatii  and  Curiatii.  The  Norse  duel,  mostly  to 
decide  a  personal  quarrel,  was  fought  on  a  holm,  or 
island,  and  hence  called  holmgdngr.  The  sagas  tell 
of  many  a  holmgang ;  that  of  Gunnlaug  Snake-Tongue 
and  Hrafn,  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  both, 
caused  the  Icelanders  to  abolish  such  duels  as  judi- 
cial process.  An  early  case  of  combat  for  a  lady's 
honor  is  mentioned  by  Paul  the  Deacon.^  Queen 
Gundiperga  is  accused  of  infidelity  to  her  husband. 
One  of  her  own  slaves,  named  Carellus,  receives 
permission  from  the  king  to  defend  the  honor  of 
Gundiperga  against  her  accuser.  The  duel  takes 
place  before  all  the  people,  and  the  queen  is  vindi- 
cated. 

Such  were  the  slow  steps  of  rationalism  as  it  won 
inch  by  inch  the  territory  of  barbarous  instinct  and 
superstitions.  But  the  old  customs  died  hard.  No- 
bler souls  long  looked  on  all  these  compromises  and 
compositions  as  degrading,  and  held  blood  to  be  far 
better  than  gold.  "I  will  not  carry  my  son  in  my 
purse ! "  says  an  old  Norseman  as  he  spurns  the  prof- 


THE  FAMILY 


185 


1  Germ.  X. 


2  IV.  47. 


fered  satisfaction.  In  the  Niahsaga,  old  Nial  is  told 
that  he  too,  as  well  as  his  wife,  may  leave  the  burn- 
ing house  where  his  sons  have  been  surrounded  by 
their  enemies.  "  No,"  he  answers,  "  I  am  an  old  man, 
unable  to  avenge  my  sons;  and  I  will  not  live  in 
disgrace." 

As   a   feud   involved   the  family,  it  is  clear  that 
something  besides  mere  pride  swelled  the  breast  of 
a  father  who  counted  his  row  of  stalwart  sons  :  it  was 
an  assurance  of  present  and  future  weal.i     No  feud 
could  be  lightly  undertaken  against  a  powerful  and 
numerous  family.     Probably  the  average  Germanic 
brood  was  no  smaller  than  in  barren  Iceland;  and 
there  we  read  of  such  people  as  Hrut  Herjolfson  and 
his  two  wives,  who  had  sixteen  boys  and  ten  girls. 
"  When,  in  his  old  age,  at  the  summer  assembly  of 
the    people,    he    appeared    surrounded   by   fourteen 
sturdy  sons,  he  was  the  subject  of  numerous  congrat- 
ulations," 2 —  and  no  wonder.     To  lose  one  of  these 
stalwart  sons  was  a  very  serious  thing  for  the  Ger- 
manic father. 

Over  wife  and  child,  and  every  member  of  his 
family,  bond  or  free,  the  German  had,  in  theory,  an 
absolute  control.  But  religion  and  custom,  what 
Tacitus  calls  the  honi  mores^  set  up  certain  restric- 
tions which  gradually  hardened  from  tradition  into 
law.  To  sell  wife  and  child  was  a  last  resort  of  the 
Frisians.3  The  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  and  even  the 
church,  recognized  a  sort  of  right  which  parents  had 
to  sell  their  children  into  servitude,  but  endeavored 

i"Quauto   maior   affinium  numerus,  tanto   gratiosior   senectus," 
Germ.  XX. 

2  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  259.  «  Tac.  Ann.  IV.  72. 


\ 


186 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


to  curb  the  practice.^  To  slay  outright  an  able- 
bodied  member  of  one's  household  may  have  been 
lawful,  but,  except  in  the  case  of  punishment  or 
defence,  was  doubtless  rarely  exercised.  There 
would  be  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  anger  that  the 
spirit  of  such  a  slain  relative  would  feel  towards  the 
murderer  and  his  kin.  At  last,  individual  freedom 
of  every  sort  yielded  to  the  waxing  authority  of  the 
king,  and  his  laws  limited  the  power  of  husband  and 
father ;  the  state  took  up  the  old  territory  of  kin  and 
clan.     All,  however,  was  done  by  slow  approaches. 

According  to  old  Jutland  laws,  a  man  was  per- 
mitted to  strike  wife  and  child,  provided  he  did  it 
with  a  staff  or  a  rod,  and  broke  no  bones.^  Grimm 
reminds  us  of  Siegfried's  theory  and  practice :  — 

So  women  should  be  managed,  said  Siegfried,  man  of  main, 
That  from  pert  and  haughty  sayings  they  ever  should  refrain ; 

and  afterwards  his  wife  bears  testimony,  as  follows :  — 

Much  have  I  rued  my  error,  said  Kriemhild  furthermore, 
Since  for  its  sake  my  husband  has  beaten  me  full  sore.^ 

Corporal  chastisement,  even  of  adult  members  of  the 
household,  was  extremely  common,  lingered  through 
the  middle  ages,  and  under  the  head  of  "  Wife- 
Beating"  is  still  a  favorite  topic  with  them  that 
make  or  read  the  newspaper.  "  As  late  as  the  seven- 
teenth century  in  France,"  says  Kemble,^  "  it  appears 
that  it  was  usual  to  flog  the  valets,  pages,  and  maids 
in  noble  houses."  Mention  is  made  of  "  a  riot  which 
arose  in  Paris  from  a  woman's  being  whipped  to  death 


THE  FAMILY 


187 


i 


1  Kemble,  Saxons,  1. 199. 
3iV.L.805,  837. 


2  R,  A.  450. 

4  Saxons,  1. 209. 


by  her  mistress  in  August,  1651."  Queen  Elizabeth, 
we  know,  was  wont  to  beat  her  maids  of  honor  black 
and  blue.  Of  course,  the  Germanic  wife  did  not 
venture,  any  more  than  her  children,  to  lift  a  hand 
against  her  husband.  In  Iceland,  however,  women 
achieved  a  remarkable  degree  of  independence,  and 
Weinhold  gives  an  instance  where  a  wife,  openly 
declaring  that  her  husband  had  dared  to  whip  her, 
thereupon  dissolved  the  partnership  and  left  him, 
taking  all  her  fortune  with  her.i  On  the  part  of  the 
wife,  direct  and  heavy  insult  aimed  at  her  husband, 

—  acute  symptoms,  we  may  say,  of  the  common  scold, 

—  conspiracy  against  his  life,  and,  above  all,  adultery, 
were  just  occasion  for  her  immediate  death ;  only  the 
husband  was  obliged  to  kill  her  openly,  and  to  an- 
nounce his  act  immediately  to  his  neighbors.  It  was 
mainly  the  efforts  of  the  church  which,  little  by  little, 
secured  to  the  wife  rights  of  person,  if  not  of  prop- 
erty, nearly  equal  to  those  of  her  husband. 

In  general,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  able-bodied  persons 
were  seldom  killed  through  the  exercise  of  paternal 
power.  But  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  in  regard 
to  the  custom  of  exposure,^  applied  to  the  very 
old  and  the  very  young.  Life  was  hard  in  those 
days,  and  daily  bread  was  often  uncertain;  strong 
hands  must  pay  for  well-fed  bodies.  The  weak  and 
sickly  and  old  were  more  than  superfluous;  they 
were  a  burden.  Remorseless  logic  pointed  to  a 
speedy  relief.  Particularly  infants,  whether  by  rea- 
son of  some  deformity,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  girls, 
because  they  were  not  wanted  in  the  family,  —  little 

1  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  250. 

2  "  Exposition,"  Gibbon  calls  it. 


188 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Florence  Dombeys,  —  were  killed  or  exposed  or,  in 
milder  act,  sold  into  slavery.  Even  the  mere  fact 
that  a  new-born  child  was  a  girl  often  sealed  its  fate ; 
male  offspring  counted  so  much  more  in  the  struggle 
for  existence.  Mild  survival  of  this  is  the  traditional 
law  at  Nestenbach,  that  the  father  of  a  new-born  boy 
has  the  right  to  two  wagon-loads  of  wood  from  the 
common  forest,  but  only  one  load  if  the  baby  is  a 
girl.i  Legend  and  poetry  often  veiled  the  old  and 
barbarous  and  cruelly  practical  custom,  as  in  the 
case  where  some  dream  or  warning  causes  the  parents 
to  expose  the  new-born  infant,  and  so  avert  a  calam- 
ity which  it  is  fated  to  bring  upon  the  race.  The 
poetry  of  all  nations  is  full  of  this.  A  rich  Icelander, 
Thorstein,  just  before  the  birth  of  his  child,  dreams 
that  he  rears  in  his  house  a  beautiful  swan.  Two 
eagles  come  and  fight  fiercely  for  the  swan,  and  at 
last  fall,  both  of  them,  dead  to  the  ground,  and  the 
swan  sits  sorrowful  and  mourns.  Then  came  yet 
another  bird,  and  with  him  Thorstein's  swan  flew 
away.  A  Norwegian  skipper  interprets  Thoretein's 
dream  in  the  obvious  fashion ;  and  when  the  latter 
rides  off  to  the  assembly  of  the  people,  he  tells  his 
wife  that  if  she  gives  birth  to  a  girl,  it  is  not  to  be 
reared,  but  exposed.  The  wife  contrives  that  her 
little  daughter  shall  find  a  home  with  one  of  lier 
relatives;  and  Thorstein's  caution  proves,  as  usual, 
only  a  vain  struggle  against  fate.  His  dream  is  ful- 
filled; for  Hrafn  and  Gunnlaug,  the  eagles  of  the 
dream,  fell  in  that  holmgang  already  mentioned.^ 
Thorstein,  though  a  rich  man  and  able  to  rear  a 
dozen  children,  excited  by  his  action  no  more  sur- 


1  R.  A.  403. 


2  Gunnlaugssaga  Ormstungu,  ed.  Mogk. 


THE  FAMILY 


189 


prise  than  that  which  modern  folk  feel  over  some 
unusual  piece  of  economy  on  the  part  of  a  wealthy 
neighbor.! 

When  a  Germanic  child  was  born,^  it  lay  on  the 
floor  (ham  er  d  golfi,  "  the  bairn  is  on  the  floor,"  that 
is,  "is  born")  until  the  father  decided  whether  it 
should  be  acknowledged  as  a  member  of  his  family, 
or  whether  it  should  be  exposed.     In  the  fii-st  case, 
he  lifted  it  up,  or  caused  some  one  else  ^  to  lift  it  up ; 
it   was   sprinkled   with  water,  had   a  bit  of  honey 
smeared  on  its  lips,  and  so  became  a  human  child,  a 
member  of  the  family  and  clan,  no  longer  —  save  in 
such  exceptional  cases  as  a  general  famine  —  liable 
to  exposure.     This  act  of  lifting  up  is  synonymous 
with    fatherhood    itself;    and    Saxo    Grammaticus, 
speaking   of   a   certain   man's   child,   does    not    say 
"whom  he  had  begotten,"  but  "whom  he  had  taken 
^P/'  —  quern   sustulerat.      Deformed    children    were 
not  taken  up,  but  promptly  exposed,  —  in  oldest  times 
killed,  —  in  the  feeling  that  such  lives  were  not  worth 
living,  quite  aside  from  the   burden   entailed  upon 
those  who  would  support  them.     This  exposing  was 
the  business  of  the  father,  although,  as  Grimm  points 
out,*  the  legends  soften  down  the  barbarity  of  the  act 
by  attributing  it  to  those  who  have  no  direct  author- 

1  It  is  needless  to  remind  the  reader,  save  in  merest  allusion,  how 
universal  was  this  custom  of  exposure  among  all  the  nations  of  old. 
Romulus  and  Remus,  (Edipus,  stories  of  the  East,  the  flotsam  and  jetsam 
of  literature  drifting  down  the  centuries  and  still  claiming  our  tears  in 
the  sympathetic  verse  of  Chaucer,  — a  book  would  be  needed  to  name 
them  all. 

2  R.  A.  455. 

8  The  nurse ;  hence,  says  Wackernagel  Kl.  Schr.  I.  12,  the  German 

Hehamme.    Kluge,  Etym.  Diet.,  s.v.    C/.  Danish  2orc?emoder,  "eartb- 
mother."  •  4  ^^  j.  45^;, 


V 


190 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


ity,  like  that  family  scapegoat,  the  stepmother. 
Girls,  as  we  saw,  were  often  unwelcome  guests ;  and 
a  curious  superstition  was  often  fatal  to  twins,  for 
these,  men  fabled,  could  not  both  be  legitimate  chil- 
dren. This  superstition  forms  a  basis  for  the  mediae- 
val legend  of  Octavian}  The  exposure  itself  took 
place  mostly  under  a  tree  or  in  a  rude  boat  that  was 
given  to  the  waves.^  There  seems  to  have  been  a 
vague  notion  that  if  the  gods  had  any  destiny  in 
store  for  the  infant,  they  might  see  to  its  safety  for 
themselves;  or  else,  the  child  passed  for  a  sort  of 
sacrifice.  The  feelings  of  the  child  were  not  con- 
sidered at  all.  Grimm  quotes  a  passage  from  Gu- 
drun,  where  children  are  forbidden  to  cry  and  weep 
aloud,  on  penalty  of  being  drowned.  It  is  a  rough 
shock  to  sentiment  when  we  think  that  this  old  and 
hopeless  piece  of  barbarism  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
our  most  exquisite  myths,  —  Lohengrin  the  swan- 
knight,  Arthur  the  forest-foundling,  and  that  mystic 
Scild  Avho  in  the  prelude  of  our  national  epic,  Beoivulf, 
drifts  in  his  boat,  a  child  of  destiny,  to  the  shores  of 
a  kingless  land. 

The  right  to  expose  a  child  ceased  in  ordinary 
cases  if  food  of  any  sort,  especially  milk  or  honey,^ 
had  passed  its  lips.  There  is  a  legend  of  the  mother 
of  St.  Liudger,  which  shows  the  old  Frisian  custom.* 
She  was  to  have  been  drowned  immediately  after  her 
birth,  because  she  was  "only  a  girl."  A  neighbor 
woman,  coming  by  and  taking  pity  on  the  infant,  put 

1  There  are  English  versions,  one  from  the  fourteenth  century. 

2  R.  A.  459.  8  R,  A.  457. 

*  Her  name  was  Liafburg.  The  story  is  told  in  the  Vita  Liudgeri, 
quoted  at  some  length  by  Richthofen,  Friesische  Eechtsgeschichte, 
II.  40G  f . 


(f 


THE   FAMILY 


191 


some  honey  on  the  child's  mouth.     The  honey  was 
promptly  swallowed,  and  in  accordance  with  custom 
the  baby  was  allowed  to  live.     Tests  were  often  prac- 
tised in  the  case  of  boys  to  see  whether  there  was 
promise  of  a  vigorous  life.     Thus  even  for  the  water 
baptism,  if  we  may  so  style  it,  Holtzmann  ^  takes  the 
very  practical  view  that  it  was  really  a  trial  of  hardi- 
ness.    If  the  boy  stood  the  shock  of  immersion,  he 
had  a  strong  constitution.     The  old  Vikings  thrust 
a  spear  toward  the  child  as  it  lay  on  the  floor,  and  if 
the  little  fist  clutched  at  the  weapon,  good  :  the  child 
should  live  and  be  a  man  of  his  hands.     The  same 
motif  has  crept  into  a  legend  of  the  Lombards,  and 
is  told  in  all  seriousness  by  Paul  the  Deacon,  in  his 
history  of  that  race.^     Once  upon  a  time,  he  tells  us, 
a  woman  threw  her  seven  little  children  into  a  pond, 
to  let   them  drown  there.      It  chanced   that  King 
Agelmund  rode  by  the  pond,  and  seeing  to  his  aston- 
ishment the  wretched  infants,  he  stopped  his  horse 
and  reached  out  towards  them  with  his  spear ;  one  of 
them  grasped  it.     Agelmund,  moved  with  pity  and 
wonder,  said  the  child  would  one  day  be  a  powerful 
man,  ordered  him  taken  from  the  pond,  had  him  care- 
fully nursed  and  educated,  and  called  him  Lamissio.^ 
When  Agelmund  died,  Lamissio  was  made  king  of 
the  Lombards.     Somewhat  different  was  the  test  of 
hardiness  where  a  poor  freedman  died  and  left  several 
children.     They  were  put  together  in  a  pit  —  this  is 
not  precisely  comfortable  reading  —  and  were  suffered 
to  starve  one  by  one  to  death :  he  who  held  out  long- 

1  Germ.  Alterth.  p.  212.  2  j,  15^ 

8  From  the  word  lama,  a  pond,  explains  Paul.   It  is  our  word  loam^ 
slime. 


192 


I  * 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


est  was  taken  up  in  extremis  and  allowed  to  live  on 
the  score  of  his  tough  constitution.^ 

The  cruel  custom  of  exposure  yielded  but  slowly 
to  the  pressure  of  civilization  and  the  teachings  of 
the  church.  As  helpful  as  anj^thing  was  the  instinct 
of  maternal  pity  and  devotion  and  love,  which 
counted  more  and  more  as  the  position  of  women 
was  improved.  Grimm  ^  quotes  from  a  Danish 
ballad,  where  a  mother  puts  her  baby  in  a  chest, 
lays  with  it  consecrated  salt  and  candles,  and  goes  to 
the  water-side. 


Thither  she  goes  along  the  strand 
And  pushes  the  chest  so  far  from  land, 
Casts  the  chest  so  far  from  shore : 
"  To  Christ  the  Mighty  I  give  thee  o'er ; 
To  the  mighty  Christ  I  surrender  thee, 
For  thou  hast  no  longer  a  mother  in  me." 

Imperial  laws  took  the  merciful  side.  The  Emperor 
Valentinian  issued  an  edict  against  what  Gibbon 
calls  the  "exposition  of  new-born  infants." ^  But 
nothing  clings  to  life  like  an  old  and  once  universal 
custom.  When  the  popular  assembly  of  Iceland 
resolved  to  accept  the  Christian  faith,  the  outvoted 
minority  submitted  to  be  baptized  on  condition  that 
they  might  keep  the  right  to  expose  their  children, 
as  well  as  the  privilege  of  eating  horse-flesh.  Evi- 
dently the  ceremony  of  naming  a  child,  a  sort  of 
baptism,  had  much  importance  in  the  heathen  ritual ; 
witness  the  sullen  comment  of  Clovis,  the  Frank, 
when  his  child  died  within  a  week  after  its  baptism 

1/?.  J[.461.  ^R.  A.  457,  ^59. 

8  Decline  and  Fall,  Chap.  XXV. 


\'¥ 


THE   FAMILY 


193 


by  Christian  rites  :  "  Had  it  been  consecrated  (^dic- 
tatus)  in  the  name  of  my  gods,  it  would  have  lived  ; 
but  nov/  because  it  was  baptized  in  the  name  of 
your  god,  it  could  not  live  at  all."  ^ 

Elaborate  was  the  ceremony  of  naming  a  Germanic 
infant;  and  with  the  naming  went  a  gift.  The 
young  Norse  hero  wanders  silent  and  nameless  till 
he  meets  the  Valkyria  Svava,  in  the  forest,  and  she 
hails  him  and  calls  him  Helgi.  Then  Helgi  answers : 
"What  gift  wilt  thou  give  me  with  this  name  of 
Helgi  ?  "  Whereupon  she  tells  him  how  he  can  find 
a  wonderful  sword.^  Simrock  says^  that  a  present 
was  demanded  even  when  one  in  after  life  received 
a  nickname.  Woden  unwittingly  gives  a  sort  of 
nickname  to  a  tribe  of  men  ("  Langobardi "),  —  it 
is  a  Hera-like  trick  of  his  wife,  Frea,  —  and  so  is 
forced  to  give  them,  along  with  the  name,  victory 
over  their  enemies.  Another  gift  came  by  right  to 
the  Scandinavian  child  when  it  cut  its  first  tooth ; 
and  this  custom  also,  thinks  Jacob  Grimm,  rests 
upon  old  Germanic  tradition. 

The  name  itself  was  not  so  distinct  and  individual 
an  affair  as  it  is  now ;  for  the  main  thing  then  was  to 
attach  the  new-born  child  to  his  proper  clan  and  make 
him  a  member  of  that  organization  which  meant  so 
infinitely  much  for  our  ancestors.  This  name,  which 
bound  its  owner  to  his  family,  was  chosen  with 
especial  care.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  habit 
of  fastening  a  general  name  on  the  descendants  of 
one  man,  and  then  giving  each  individual  a  distin- 

1  Greg.  Tur.  II.  29,  31. 

2  Hildebrand,  Edda,  Helgakv,  11  6-8.    Grimm,  G.  D.  S:^  108. 
8  Mythol.  p.  595. 


-j_.. 


194 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


guishing  "  Christian "  name,  was   unknown   to   the 
Germans,  and  indeed  begins  to  be  a  settled  custom 
only  with  the   twelfth  century.^     Not  additions   to 
the  family  name,  but  variations  of  it,  made  the  Ger- 
manic rule.     Hildebrand  names  his  son  Hathubrand, 
—  that  is  one  sort  of  variation.     Somewhat  different 
are  the  cases  where  "  the  mother  was  called  Ada,  the 
daughter  Oda    (Uota) ;    the    mother   Adalhilt,   the 
daughter  Uodalhilt ;  the  mother  Baba,  the  daughter 
Buoba."     Still  another  variation  meets  us  in  a  rhyme 
like    Haukr   and  Gaukr.2     We    have    already   seen 
the    first    of    these   systems    of   name-giving  in  the 
Taeitean     divisions    of    the    Germanic     race,  —  the 
tribes   Ingsevones,   Istsevones,  Irminones    (for    Her- 
minones),    descended   from   three   brothers;   in   the 
gods  ( W)  Odin,  Wili,  We ;  and  one  could  add  a  long 
list,  —  Thusnelda    and    Thumelicus,    Vannius    and 
Vangio,^  and  so  on.     Patronymic  names  in  -ing  are 
of  course  very  common  in  Anglo-Saxon.     By  their 
aid,  and  with  the  ending  -hdm  or  -tun  we  trace  back 
many  an   English    town   to   the    head   of  a   single 
family.*     For  the  deeper  question  about  these  names, 
their  meaning  and  purpose,  Scherer^  has  made  the 
following  general  statement.     The   names  that  the 
primitive  German  gave  to  his  boy  or  girl  "  were  for 
the  most   part   like  the  names   of   Catholic   saints, 
who  are  given  to  the  children  as  patrons  and  pro- 
tectors ;  these  German  names  betokened  patterns  of 
life,  ideals,  which  must  be  followed  and  imitated." 
Often  the  name  was  a  compound  of  two  members; 

1  Weinhold,  D.  F.  96.  2  ibid.  97. 

8  See  for  longer  lists,  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  266  ff. 

*  See  Kemble's  valuable  lists.  Saxons,  I.  459  fif.  6  G.  D.  L.  10  f. 


f 


'' 


^r, 


it' 


THE  FAMILY 


195 


and  as  in  Aryan  times,  one  of  these  members  was 
often  used  alone  as  a  pet  or  household  name.  Favor- 
ite compounds  were  such  as  Gerhard^  the  spear-bold 
man,i  or  Gertrude  (^Ger-dru^)^  "the  spear-strong," 
applied  to  one  of  Woden's  battle-maidens.^  "  In 
general,"  says  Scherer,  "  the  names  of  men  in  the 
Germanic  period  expressed  the  qualities  which  make 
for  success  in  the  great  battle  of  life,  —  wisdom, 
strength,  courage,  readiness  with  weapons,  power, 
leadership,  passionate  and  determined  purpose.  All 
pointed  to  struggle  or  conquest."  Among  the  names 
of  women,  however,  Scherer  sees  two  sharply  sun- 
dered groups.  One  set  of  names  had  as  basis  the 
qualities  of  peaceful  life,  love,  faithfulness,  good 
cheer,  beauty,  grace,  reminding  us  of  nymph  and 
dryad,  of  the  light  mist  upon  lake  or  meadow.  The 
other  group  had  names  of  battle  and  warfare,  like 
Briinhild,  "  she  who  fights  in  armor."  Whether  the 
brilliant  historian  is  right  in  assigning  the  respective 
origins  of  these  groups  to  two  distinct  periods,  one 
of  which  cherished  peace  as  its  ideal,  the  other  de- 
lighting in  war  and  bloodshed  alone,  is  a  question 
still  open  to  debate.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  at  the  time  now  under  consideration  the 
warlike  principle  prevailed  in  overwhelming  degree. 
"  She  sat  at  home  and  span"  was  the  coveted  epitaph 
of  the  Roman  matron ;  but  the  mother  or  wife  of 
German  warriors  went  with  them  to  battle  and  once, 
perhaps,  bore  shield  and  weapon  at  their  side. 

Mythology,  too,  as  Miillenhoff  points  out,  played 


»» 


1  The  Danes  in  B^owidf  call  themselves  Gdrdene,  "  Spear-Danes.' 

2  For  details,  see  reference  above,  and  also  Weinhold,  Deutsche 
Frauen,  p.  11  ff. 


* 


196 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


its  part  in  Germanic  names ;  ^  and  not  inactive  was 
the  influence  of  heroic  legend.  Just  as  the  patriot  of 
some  decades  ago  named  his  son  after  one  of  the  rev- 
olutionary heroes,  so  a  Germanic  lad  might  receive 
the  name  of  a  Siegfried,  a  Gunther,  a  Welant.^ 

The  early  life  of  the  Germanic  child  was  passed  in 
the  narrow  range  of  his  paternal  household ;  rich  and 
poor  alike  grew  up  together,  unclad  and  dirty,  an 
ideal  childhood.^  So  lived  the  son  of  the  freeman 
until  the  time  when,  in  presence  of  the  popular  as- 
sembly, after  judgment  had  been  passed  upon  his  fit- 
ness, he  took  spear  and  shield  and  became  a  member 
of  the  state.  A  somewhat  romantic  tale  of  Paul  the 
Deacon,  about  Alboin  (the  .^Ifwine  of  our  own 
poem,  Widsid)  and  his  youthful  bravery,  asserts  that 
Alboin,  while  yet  a  prince,  in  battle  with  the  Gepidse, 
killed  their  king's  son  in  single  combat.  The  war- 
riors of  Alboin  thereupon  begged  his  father,  the  king, 
that  he  would  admit  the  youthful  hero  to  the  royal 
table.  "No,"  answered  the  king;  "you  know  our 
custom  that  a  king's  son  may  not  sit  at  meat  with  his 
father  till  he  has  received  gifts  of  arms  from  some 
other  king."  ^  This  gift  of  arms,  whether  so  intricate 
a  ceremony  as  here,  or  the  everyday  occurrence  of  a 
German  community,  was  the  all-important  moment  of 
the  freeman's  life.  For  arms  were  the  sign  of  his 
freedom.  "  They  go  about  no  business,"  declares 
Tacitus  of  his  Germans,  "either  public  or  private, 

1  Zur  Runenlehre,  p.  44  ff. 

2  Symons  in  Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  1. 1,  p.  10. 
8  *'Nudi  ac  sordidi,"  Tac.  Germ.  XX. 

4  Paul.  Diac.  I.  23.  What  follows  (24)  is  a  strained  account  of  Ger- 
manic hospitality.  Young  Alboin  goes  as  guest  to  the  king  whose  son 
he  has  slain,  and  asks  the  latter *s  arms  as  gift. 


THE   FAMILY 


197 


> 


unless  armed.  But  no  one  is  allowed  to  take  arms  to 
himself  until  the  state  (civitas)  is  satisfied  that  he 
knows  how  to  use  them.  Then  in  the  public  assem- 
bly, either  one  of  the  princes,  or  the  father,  or  a  rela- 
tive, adorns  him  with  shield  and  spear.  That  is  with 
them  the  toga  and  the  first  honor  of  youth;  until 
this  occasion  he  is  reckoned  of  the  household,  but  not 
of  the  state."  ^  Later  law  and  custom  ordain  that  at 
seven  years  of  age  a  boy  is  taken  from  the  control 
of  the  women  and  begins  his  education  among  men. 
At  eight,  with  many  tribes,  he  had  a  wergild*  To 
prove  his  fitness,  says  tradition,  an  apple  and  a  bit  of 
money  were  placed  before  him :  if  he  grasped  at  the 
apple,  he  was  not  worth  reckoning ;  if  at  the  money, 
he  was  worth  half  the  wergild  of  a  man.^  At  ten 
year's  an  Anglo-Saxon  youth  seems,  under  two  codes 
of  law,  to  have  become  free  of  his  guardian,^  so  far  as 
the  latter's  hold  on  the  former's  property  was  con- 
cerned ;  and  among  the  West-Goths  a  youth  of  ten, 
if  he  fell  sick,  could  dispose  of  his  estate.^  Other 
Anglo-Saxon  laws  fix  twelve  years  for  such  responsi- 
bilities; and  this  is  legal  age  in  other  places.  At 
fifteen,  others  were  thought  ready  to  bear  weapons, 
—  an  age  which  agrees  better  with  our  notions  of 
fitness;  and  eighteen,  and  even  twenty-one,  have 
judicial  sanction. 

From  such  a  time  till  old  age  reduced  his  strength, 
the  freeman  was  active  member  of  the  state,  bore 
arms,  took  part  in  council,  had  the  duties  of  fighting 
and  the  privileges  of  idleness,  and  was  thus  distin- 
guished from  the  unfree.    In  education,  says  Tacitus, 


1  Tac.  Germ.  XIII. 

8  Ibid.  413.    Schmid,  p.  12. 


2  R.  A.  411. 
4  R.  A.  414. 


/ 


198 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FAMILY 


199 


there  was  no  distinction.  A  playmate  in  boyhood 
could  be  the  slave  of  riper  years.  Weinhold  thinks 
that  boys  were  often  sent  to  other  households  for 
purposes  of  general  education,  —  mostly  to  a  rela- 
tive;^ but  this  is  only  a  guess.  Certainly  there 
was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  our  modern  schooling 
with  book  and  pen ;  a  robust  contempt  for  this  busi- 
ness of  monks  and  women  held  strong  throughout 
the  middle  ages,  and  was  doubtless  based  on  a  gen- 
uine old  Germanic  sentiment,  —  latent,  of  course, 
in  the  absence  of  an  alphabet.  But  it  was  otherwise 
with  the  education  of  muscle,  agility,  courage.  Look, 
for  example,  at  the  accomplishments  of  our  Jarl  in  the 
Rigsmdl?  Gymnastics  of  some  sort  our  forefathers 
undoubtedly  practised ;  witness  their  sword-dance. 
This  was  education  and  sport,  task  and  theatre,  com- 
bined.^ The  young  men  of  free  rank  carried  out  the 
dance  and  had  charge  of  it;  they  were  clad  as  in 
battle,  naked  to  the  waist,  with  sword,  or  framea^ 
in  the  hand.  Then  they  leaped  or  threw  themselves 
about,  among  or  under  the  quivering,  flashing  swords. 
Miillenhoff  assumes  ^  that  this  was  done  to  a  musical 
accompaniment ;  "  from  the  start,  Germans  knew  fife, 
horn,  and  probably  a  sort  of  drum."  Something  of 
the  same  sort,  though  performed  in  full  armor,  was 
the  Pyrrhic  dance  of  the  Greeks,  in  which  all  motions 
and  postures  of  combat  were  imitated,  and  the  whole 

1  Deutsche  Frauen,  1. 105. 

2  See  above,  p.  62.  Wackernagel  {Kl.  Schr.  1. 14)  refers  to  Seneca 
Epist.  37. 

8  Tac.  Germ.  XXIV.  It  is  the  subject  of  an  admirable  monograph 
by  Miillenhoff,  printed  in  the  Festgahen  fur  G.  Homey er^  Berlin,  1871, 
p.  Ill  ff. 

4  A  sort  of  spear,  the  national  weapon.    See  below,  p.  250. 

5  p.  117. 


affair  was  made  into  a  training-school  for  actual  war- 
fare. There  was  a  similar  Italian  dance.  Our  Ger- 
manic tongue  made  little  difference  between  "  play  " 
or  "dance,"  and  "fight";  both  were  expressed  by  the 
word  Me,  of  which  our  discredited  "  lark  "  or  "  larking  " 
is  lineal  descendant.  Among  the  many  "  kennings  " 
for  "  battle,"  derivations  of  this  Idc  are  beloved  meta- 
phors: "sword-lark,"  " warriors'-lark,"  "shield-lark"; 
or  else  the  compound  is  with  plega,  "  play  "  :  "  spear- 
play,"  "sword-play,"  "linden-play"  (so,  of  the  shield), 
and  many  more. 

Such  an  education  might  well  lead  up  to  a  vigor- 
ous manhood  and,  by  our  reckoning,  to  a  green  old 
age.  But  the  second  childhood  of  a  German  had 
all  the  risks  of  his  first ;  exposure  was  as  common  a 
fate  for  the  graybeard  as  for  the  infant.  "  Old  age," 
cries  Lear  bitterly  enough,  "is  unnecessary";  but 
the  ancients  came  to  this  conclusion  without  any 
such  cruel  tuition  as  his.  "The  young  tree,"  says 
the  hero  of  a  legend  told  by  Saxo  Grammaticus, 
"is  to  be  nourished;  the  old  tree  should  be  hewn 
down";^  and  the  phrase  is  characteristic.  For  not 
as  a  gentle  messenger,  an  "  angel,"  not  as  the  softly 
approaching  genius  with  inverted  torch,  beckoning 
the  soul,  or  "  standing  pensively,  his  hand  lifted  to 
his  cheek,"  did  death  come  to  the  German ;  ^  it 
charged  full  upon  him,  a  relentless  warrior.  The 
Germanic  conception  of  death  was  neither  the  comely 
youth,  twin-brother  of  sleep  and  son  of  night,  as 
the  Greeks  represented  him,^  nor  yet  the  repulsive 

1  Arbor  alenda  recens ;  vetus  excidenda.  2  Grimm,  D.  M.  700. 

8  Lessing,  Wie  die  Alten  den  Tod  gehildet,  Berlin,  1769,  p.  5  f.    Death 
carved  to  resemble  an  Amor,  see  p.  10  f . 


200 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


skeleton  of  our  mediaeval  traditions ;  ^  death,  mostly 
personified  by  the  Germans  as  "  Battle,"  or  the  like, 
seized  each   man   and  bore   him   away.      "If   Hild 
(Battle)  shall  take  me,"  says  Beowulf,  thinking  of 
his  possible  death.     Germanic  life  was  all  struggle, 
stress,  battle ;  and  death  was  only  the  hardest  out  of 
many  buffets.     All   races,  says  Victor   Hehn,  in  a 
certain  stage  of  the  development  of  reflection  come 
to  the  notion  that  death  is  no  great  evil ;  ^  and  he 
quotes  the  famous  story  told  by  Herodotus  about  a 
Thracian  tribe  who  wept  when  a  man  was  born  and 
rejoiced  at  the  death  which  set  him  free  from  reach 
of  human  ills.     Probably  we  pity  those  gray-haired 
victims  of  exposure  more  than  they  pitied  themselves ; 
and  they  could  have  echoed  in  all  simplicity,  so  far 
as  old  age  was  concerned,  the  words  of  the  Preacher 
who  praised  the  dead  that  were  already  dead  more 
than  the  living  which  were  yet  alive.^     We  must  be 
careful,  however,  not  to  slip  any  poetry  into  the  other 
side  of  the  account.      The  German  did  not  philos- 
ophize very  much;  the  stolid  fashion  of  a  peasant, 
face  to  face  with  death,  gives  us  a  better  hint.     It 
was  not  a  sentiment  that  old  and  tired  should  die  ;  it 
was  a  custom.     Still,  a  rough  sentiment  often  moulds 
our  habit,  and  those  weary  veterans  of  life  may  well 
have  said  with  the  Greek  poet  that  old  age  is  intoler- 
able and  hated  even  by  the  gods ;  while  they  were 
not  modern  enough  to  join  Lear  in  his  magnificent 
appeal  for  sympathy :  "  O  heavens,  if  you  do  love  old 
men^  .  .  >  if  yourselves  are  old^  .  .  .  send  down  and 
take  my  part ! " 

1  J.  E.  Wessely  {Die  Gestalt  des  Todes  und  des  TeufeU  in  der  dar- 
stellenden  Kunst,  Leipzig,  1876)  gives  abundant  details. 

2  Work  quoted,  p.  438.  *  Ecdesiastes,  IV.  2. 


THE  FAMILY 


201 


> 


k 


i 


\ 


The  prime  and  best  of  life,  so  reckoned  the  ancients, 
lay  for  men  in  the  period  from  twenty  to  fifty,  and 
for  women  from  fifteen  to  forty,  —  of  course,  a  rough 
average.  These  particular  figures  apply  to  the  West- 
Goths,^  but  would  doubtless  hit  the  Germanic  notion 
as  a  whole.  Sign  of  one's  abiding  manhood  was  the 
power  to  mount  and  back  a  horse,  swing  sword,  and 
walk  without  staff  or  other  help.^  Three-score-and- 
ten  is  the  biblical  limit  of  strength ;  but  as  among 
the  Romans,  sixty  years  were  enough  to  bow  the 
Germanic  frame. 

Now  while  these  years  of  strength  endured,  it  was 
good  for  the  German  to  live  ;  he  had  no  doubts  about 
that.  Life  was  sweet  to  him  who  had  all  powers 
of  mind  and  body,  and  a  fair  share  of  good  fortune. 
The  primitive  and  irresistible  logic  of  it  is  charmingly 
expressed  in  one  of  Chaucer's  happiest  bits  of  humor, 
where  Arcite  is  thrown  from  his  horse  and  mortally 
hurt  just  after  the  tournament  in  which  he  has  won 
his  peerless  bride :  — 

**  Why  woldestow3  be  deed,"  thise  wommeii  crye, 
^^And  haddest  gold  ynowgh,  and  Emelye  f  '* 

But  when  the  senses  were  dulled,  strength  waning, 
disease  and  pain  getting  upper  hand,  there  came  to 
the  German,  not  our  modern  weariness  of  life,  which 
is  often  found  in  very  strapping  young  gentlemen, 
but  a  willingness  to  leave  the  useless  abode,  to  pass 
into  the  next  world,  to  try  one's  chances  in  that  region 

1  R.  A.  416. 

2  Ibid.  The  German  laws  required  that  one  could  walk  in  the  com- 
mon highway  "  ungehabt  und  ungestabt."  R.  A.  96.  Later,  a  woman's 
test  of  general  ability  was  her  power  to  walk  to  church. 

8  '•  Wouldst  thou."    See  Cant.  Tales  {KnighVs  Tale),  v.  2836  f. 


202 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


of  spirits  whose  existence  no  one  seriously  doubted. 

Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  of 

Germanic  life  from  one  of  the  older  Scandinavians :  ^ 

"I  have  slain  this  Tusk-gnasher,  first  of  the  fourth 

ten  (ix,  he  is  the  thirty-first  I  have  slain).  ...     I 

have  cut   down   thirty-five    men   as   quarry  for  the 

black-feathered  raven.     I  have  got  me  a  name  for 

mansla3dng.      May  the  fiends  take  me  when  I  am  no 

longer  able  to  wield  my  sword !     Let  men  bear  me 

into  my  barrow  then  ;  the  sooner  the  better."   Another 

sings  of  old  age :  "  I  grope  in  blindness  round  the 

fire.     There  is  a  cloud  on  my  eyes.     This  is  the  ill 

that  sits  upon  the  white  fields  of  my  brows.     My  gait 

is  tottering.  .  .  .     The  forest  of  my  head  is  falling; 

desire  has  failed  me,  and  my  hearing  is  dried  up."^ 

Such  a  life  had  no  redeeming  features ;   it  was  no 

hard  matter  to  leave  it.     Moreover,  we  know  the 

Germanic  wish  to  die  in  some  violent  way,  not  to 

pine   and  dwindle  into  one's  grave,  —  a  wish  that 

flames  out  in  the  wild  "  Death  Song  "  of  Faust,  and 

hails  him  happiest  who  dies  in  the  midst  of  victory 

or  love :  — 

O  selig  Der,  dem  er  im  Siegesglanze 

Die  blut'gen  Lorbeern  um  die  Schlafe  windet, 

Den  er  nach  rasch  durchrastem  Tanze, 

In  eines  Madchens  Armen  findet ! 

Warriors  in  Scandinavia  gashed  themselves  with 
Odin's  spear,  and  so  avoided  that  dreaded  "  death  in 
the  straw."  ^     The  Gautrehssaga  tells  of  a  lofty  rock 

1  It  is  of  the  heathen  period.  Translation  from  Vigfusson  and 
PoweU's  C.  P.  B.  II.  70.  2  C.  P.  B.  II.  73. 

8  Of  course,  a  common  barbaric  trait.  See  Ammian.  Marc.  31,  II.  22, 
for  the  sentiment  of  the  Alans ;  those  who  lived  to  old  age,  or  died  of 
sickness,  were  treated  with  contempt. 


THE  FAMILY 


203 


whence  those  who  were  weary  of  life  were  wont  to 
cast  themselves  down;  a  case  is  mentioned  where 
father  and  mother,  led  by  their  children  to  the  cliff, 
leaped  "glad  and  joyful  to  Odin."  i    On  the  other 
hand,  there  was  plenty  of  involuntary  faring  to  Odin, 
—  or  to  the  mistress  of  the  cheerless  world.    Says  Ari 
the  Icelander:  "  There  was  a  great  winter  of  famine 
in  Iceland  in  the  heathen  days,  at  the  time  that  King 
Harold  Grayfell  fell,  when  Earl  Hakon  took  the  rule 
in  Norway.     It  was  the  worst  of  famines  in  Iceland. 
Men  ate  ravens  and  foxes,  and  much  that  was  not 
meet  for  food  was  eaten,  and  some  slew  old  folks  and 
paupers,  hurling  them  over  the  cliffs  into  the  sea. ...  "2 
It  is  related  that  a  formal  motion  was  made  and  carried 
in   the   Icelandic  assembly,  that  on  account  of  the 
famine  and  cold,  all  the  old,  the  sick,  and  the  infirm 
should  be   abandoned  to   starvation.^    The   ancient 
Prussians  and  Lithuanians  killed  their  useless  old 
people   without   scruple;    while    worn-out   servants, 
sickly  children,  beggars  not  "  sturdy,"  and  such  per- 
sons, shared   a  similar  fate.     Certain  tribes  of  the 
Gothic  race  killed  their  old  and  sick,  —  this  in  the 
sixth  century.4     Beda,  in  telling  about  the  conver- 
sion of  Sussex,  mentions  the  poverty  of  the  place, 
and  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  inhabitants, 
who  in  time  of  famine  would  flock  to  the  shore  of  the 
sea,  and,  forty  or  fifty  iogetYi^vJunctis  miser e  manihus, 
leap   into   the    waves.^     Survivals   abound.     Grimm 

1  /?.  J. 486.      2 Vigf usson-Powell,  C. P. B. II. 35.      ^R  A  487 

^  Grimm,  Kl  Schr.  II.  241 ;  Procop.  d.  bell.  Goth.  II.  14.    It  'is  worth 

noting  that  "  though  relatives  kindled  the  funeral-pile,  a  stranger  was 

employed  to  give  the  death-wound." 

s  Ba^d.  Hist.  Ecc.  Gent.  Angl.  IV.  13.    The  custom  is  well  established 

for  the  ancient  Hindus,  as  well  as  for  a  host  of  modern  barbarians  •  it 

was  doubtless  a  general  Aryan  habit.  ' 


204 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


quotes  an  old  English  tradition  of  "  the  holy  mawle, 
which  they  fancy  hung  behind  the  church  door,  which, 
when  the  father  was  seaventie,  the  son  might  fetch  to 
knock  the  father  in  the  head  as  effete  and  of  no  more 
use."  Long  after  the  "  mawle  "  ceased  to  be  used, 
the  tradition  remained.^  In  poetry  and  legend  we 
find  the  same  sort  of  survival.  A  single  example, 
perhaps  a  little  strained  and  rhetorical,  may  be  taken 
from  the  German  WunderhornP'  A  boy  carries  part 
of  an  old  horse-blanket  to  his  aged  grandfather,  who 
is  kept  in  abject  misery,  shivering  and  starving  in  an 
outhouse.  "Why  the  blanket?"  asks  the  father, 
meeting  the  boy.     Then  the  boy  answers :  — 

I  take  the  half,  he  said,  ♦ 

Unto  thy  father's  bed. 

The  other  half  I  keep 
For  thee,  when  thou  shalt  lie 
Where  now  thy  aged  father 
Is  thrust  away  to  die. 

Against  this  treatment  of  the  aged  seems  to  stand 
in  sharpest  contradiction  the  well-known  reverence 
for  gray  hairs  and  the  wisdom  that  they  brought,  the 
piety  and  veneration  for  old  age,  which  we  find  in 
all  the  writers  of  antiquity.  Not  only  Nestor  of  the 
Homeric  poems,  but  the  sentiment  lying  behind  words 
like  presbyter^  or  the  Anglo-Saxon  ealdormonn^.oT  our 
epic  phrase /r^c?  ayid  god^  a  sort  of  hendiadys  express- 
ing the  fortitude  and  experience  of  mature  years,  — 
these  are  good  witnesses.  But  there  is  no  great  con- 
tradiction.    The  latter  sentiment  applied   originally 

1  Grimm,  Kl.  Schr.  VII.  175,  quoting  W.  J.  Thorns  in  a  work  edited 
for  the  Camden  Society,  1839.  2  /)^g  vierte  Gebot. 


THE  FAMILY 


205 


to  a  healthy,  vigorous  old  age,  the  wisdom  of  saga- 
cious counsel  still  fortified  by  a  sound  body.  What- 
ever, on  the  other  hand,  bore  the  visible  mark  of 
death,  the  palsied  frame,  the  sightless  face,  was  ab- 
horrent and  unclean ;  and  this  was  what  the  heathen 
hastened  to  put  out  of  sight.  As  the  feeling  of 
respect  for  old  age  in  and  for  itself  gained  ground, 
the  early  prejudice  grew  weaker ;  in  this.  Sir  Henry 
Maine  1  sees  one  of  the  chief  signs  of  advancing 
civilization. 

1  Early  Law  and  Custom,  p.  23. 


I 


206 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


CHAPTER   VII 

TRADE  AND  COMMERCE 

Household  industries  —  The  smith  —  Commerce  —  Exports  — 
Amber  — Myths  relating  to  commerce  and  seafaring  —  Ships — 
Love  of  the  sea  —  Money  and  bargains. 

Asking  the  free-born  primitive  German  what  trades 
he  had,  we  feel  sure  that  if  he  could  "  speak  back," 
it  would  be  with  a  choice  array  of  primitive  German 
abuse.  He  was  a  soldier,  he.  His  women  and  his 
slaves  carried  on  nearly  all  of  his  industries.  Among 
these,  weaving  would  take  a  prominent  place;  for 
the  Germans  had  known  the  art  and  practised  it  long 
before  they  came  in  contact  with  the  south.i  That 
"  white  cloth  "  of  divination,  mentioned  in  the  G-er- 
mania,  upon  which  the  priest  cast  the  kevils  and  read 
the  runes— -if  runes  they  were  — was  doubtless  of 
home  manufacture.  Their  linen  they  exported,  and 
it  fetched  a  good  price;  while  the  dresses  of  Ger- 
man women  were  preferably  of  the  same  material.2 
"Linen  as  popular  garb,"  says  Hehn,  "is  of  northern 
(i,e.  not  Roman  or  oriental)  origin.'' ^    in  the  Scan- 

1  Evidence  of  the  making  of  woollen  cloth  is  found  in  graves  of 
the  early  bronze  period  in  Scandinavia ;  and  towards  the  close  (several 
hundred  years  before  our  era)  of  that  age,  linen  makes  its  appearance. 
Kalund  in  Paul's  Grdrs.  II.  2.  210. 

2  Tac.  Germ.  XVII.  a  Work  quoted,  p.  149. 


TRADE  AND  COMMERCE 


207 


dinavian  lands,  linen  served  in  the  place  of  money. 
Of  industries  which  are  somewhat  allied  to  weaving* 
and  supply  the  family  needs,  we  may  mention  soap- 
making,  another  old  Germanic  art.     Leather  tanned 
with  the  aid  of  bark  gave  shoes;  while  the  sinews 
of  cattle  and  the  fibre  of  the  linden  tree  furnished 
cords  and  ropes.     All  this  was  household  work,  and 
so  remained  far  into  the  middle  ages.     That  reproach 
still  clings  to  the  trades  of  the  tailor  and  the  shoe- 
maker,   and    is    due    to    the    old    association   with 
labor  done  only  by  women  or  slaves.     Earthenware 
must  have  been  made,i  and  came  under  the  same 
category. 

But  there  was  a  craft  well  worthy  of  the  freeman 
and  one  that  lay  close  to  the  heart  of  Germanic  life, 
—  the  craft  of  the  smith,  a  noble  art,  held  high  by 
all  warrior  races.     "  Smith,"  of  course,  is  the  same  as 
Latin  faher  ;  and  we  remember  that  in  the  Rigsmdl, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Karl,  the  freeman,  is  named  Smith, 
the  artisan.     "  Smith "  is  the  masculine  pendant  to 
wehhe,  the  woman  who  weaves,  later  wehster.     Just 
as  in  Anglo-Saxon,  a  wife,  by  the  kenning  already 
quoted,   was   called    weaver-of-peace,   so   the    word 
"smith"  was  used  to  form  compounds  in  the  sense 
of  "  one  who  causes  or  makes."    Thus  we  have  ''lore- 
smith  "  (Idrsmi^^  for  learned  men,  "laughter-smith" 
for  him  who  makes  laughter  or  fun,  and  "  war-smith" 
(wigsmiiS)  for  the  warrior.2     This  general  meaning  of 
faher  or  artisan  was  slightly  broadened  in  Scandina- 
vian, and  narrowed  in  Anglo-Saxon.     In  Old  Norse, 
as  Grimm  reminds  us,^  it  meant  not  so  much  "  work- 


1  Tac.  Oerm.  V. 
8  D.  M.  453. 


2  Bode,  Kenningar  i.  d.  ags.  Dicht.  p.  48. 


208 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


man,"  as  one  skilled  in  the  arts  generally,  particularly 
the  master-builder.  In  Anglo-Saxon  it  refers  to  the 
worker  in  metals,  while  the  still  common  "  wright " 
(wyrhtd)  was  he  who  wrought  in  wood  of  all  sorts, 
ship  or  wagon  or  house. ^ 

Like  Vulcan  of  old,  the  Germanic  smith  found  his 
way  into  mythology  and  cult.  In  England  we  know 
him  as  Wayland  the  Smith ;  ^  and  our  oldest  English 
lyric,  the  song  of  the  minstrel  Deor,  introduces  him 
in  its  first  verse.  His  legend  or  myth  was  a  great 
Germanic  favorite ;  in  the  north  it  is  elaborated  into 
one  of  the  most  striking  poems,^  and  allusions  to  it 
are  frequent  even  in  the  scanty  wreckage  from  the 
literature  of  our  forefathers.  Various  accounts  made 
W^land  grandson  of  a  king  and  a  mermaid,  and  son 
of  a  giant,  —  by  no  means  a  born  thrall ;  and  his 
deeds  are  deeds  of  a  god.  The  legends  of  Weland 
seem  to  have  begun  in  Low  German  territory ;  and 
when  both  Beowulf  and  Waldere,  in  our  early  epic, 
call  their  swords  "  Wayland's  work,"  we  know  that 
this  is  praise  indeed.*  A  later  version  of  the  Sieg- 
fried legend  makes  that  splendid  hero,  the  Germanic 
Achilles,  learn  the  art  of  a  smith.^ 

Manifold,  even  in  that  simple  life,  were  the  prod- 
ucts of  this  craft.      Tools,  to  begin  with,  must  be 

1  In  Wright- Wiilker,  Glossaries,  Col.  272,  the  heading  "Incipit  de 
metallis  "  covers  smi'S  =  faber,  smi^-^e  =  officina ;  while  in  Col.  112  there 
is  a  list  of  Wrights.    However,  "  Latomus  "  is  stanwyrhta. 

2  His  cave  is  pointed  out  in  Berkshire.  Scott's  treatment  of  Way- 
land  in  Kenilworth  is  hardly  fair,  though  that  other  smith,  Henry  Gow 
in  The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth,  has  a  more  heroic  role. 

8  Charmingly  told  in  the  translation  of  the  Grimms  (Berlin,  1815, 
1885),  or  in  Vigfusson-Powell,  C.  P.  B.  1. 169. 

-^  Wiilker-Grein,  Bibl.  d.  ags.  Poesie;  Beow,  455;  Waldere,  A.  2. 
See  B.  Symons  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  1.  60  f. 

fi  Wackernagel,  Kl,  Schr.  I.  47. 


TRADE   AND  COMMERCE 


209 


made  ;  and  with  these  tools  were  fashioned  the  rough 
instruments  of  farming  life,  the  houses  and  their 
scant  furniture,  the  wagon  —  such  as  that  of  the  god- 
dess Nerthus,  —  and  above  all  the  ornaments,  the 
drinking-horns,  and  the  weapons.^  Of  course  with 
the  passage  from  age  of  bronze  to  age  of  iron,  the 
smith's  art  increased  in  its  variety  if  not  in  its  im- 
portance, and  with  iron,  brass,  silver,  lead,  and  glass 
came  into  consideration.^  Probably,  as  is  so  often  the 
case  with  conquering  tribes,  the  Germans  learned  the 
finer  shades  of  this  craft  from  captives  of  a  more  civil- 
ized but  less  warlike  race.  The  Celts  are  the  most 
obvious  teachers  of  manual  training  for  the  Germans, 
though  Roman  examples  must  be  reckoned  with. 
Warriors  often  made  their  own  weapons ;  ^  and  as  in 
modern  days,  some  leader  doubtless  saw  from  time  to 
time  the  chance  to  improve  his  warriors'  weapons, 
and  so  introduced  reforms.  A  recent  African  in- 
stance  may  be  quoted;  the  chieftain  of  a  certain 
tribe  made  a  considerable  change  in  the  character 
and  use  of  his  people's  favorite  arm,  and  in  conse- 
quence subjugated  a  number  of  neighbor  tribes  who 
depended  on  the  older  weapon.  The  forging  of 
iron  weapons  became  general  for  Germany  in  the 
times  of  the  wandering ;  but  tradition  and  fair  evi- 
dence* would  seem  to  make  the  beginnings  of  the 
industry  far  older  than  contact  with  Rome.  Nomadic 
tribes  have  often  been  good  weapon-smiths.  In  later 
times,  the  Vandals  and  the  Lombards  had  high  repu- 

1  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  44  f.      2  Montelius,  work  quoted,  p.  89. 

8  Ibid.  p.  172. 

■*  Tac.  Germ.  VI. :  "  Even  iron  is  not  abundant  (he  has  mentioned 
the  scarcity  of  gold  and  silver) ,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  character 
of  their  weapons.    Few  use  swords.  ..." 


I 


210 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


TRADE   AND   COMMERCE 


211 


tations  in  this  art.     A  Vandal  king  elevated  to  the 
rank  of   noble   a   smith  who  had  especially  distin- 
guished himself.!     The  sharp  spear-heads  of  the  men 
who  fought  so  bravely  against  Drusus  and  Germani- 
cus,  and  put  Roman  military  skill  to  all  its  shifts, 
must  have  made   plenty  of  work  for  the  weapon- 
smith.      The  sword  is  the  darling  weapon  of  Ger- 
manic song,  though  it  was  seldom  seen  in  the  hands 
of  the  ordinary  warrior.     It  is  not  the  early  national 
weapon,  like  the  short  lance ;  but  what  a  wealth  of 
affection   is   showered   upon   it  by  the  later  heroic 
poetry!     It  is  called  "the  work  of  giants,"  "Way- 
land's  work,"  "the  heirloom";  runes  were  cut  upon 
it;  it  had  will  and  passion;  mystery  was  about  it. 
It  had  its  pedigree  of  owners ;  its  fate  seemed  almost 
human.    What,  then,  as  time  went  on,  and  Germanic 
life  came  to  be  all  warfare,  —  what  of  its  maker? 
Was  he  not  as  well  paid  and  as  highly  held  as  the 
Armstrongs  or  the  Krupps  of  to-day  ? 

Ornaments  being  so  dear  to  the  primitive  German, 
the  goldsmith  was  counted  among  the  "noble  "  crafts- 
men. Of  great  interest  to  us  is  the  so-called  golden 
horn  of  Gallehus  (Denmark),  filched,  alas,  long  ago 
from  the  Copenhagen  museum,  but  represented  there 
by  an  accurate  copy  in  gilded  silver.  It  dates  from 
the  fifth  century ;  and  the  runic  inscription  upon  it 
shows  linguistic  forms  (in  early  Norse)  older  than 
the  Gothic.  This  inscription,  the  mark  of  the  Ger- 
manic smith,  runs  as  follows:  "I  Hl%estr,  son  of 
Holte  (or  simply,  of  Holt),  made  the  horn."  2    Sev- 

1  Wackernagel,  A7.  Schr.  I.  47. 

2  It  is  a  Germanic  verse,  and  reads:    "  Ek  hlewagastir  holtingar 
Lorna  tawido."    It  is  in  the  older  runic  letters. 


eral  other  products  of  the  goldsmith's  industry  have 
been  found  in  Denmark  with  inscriptions  of  the  same 
date  as  that  of  the  golden  horn.  They  surely  justify 
our  assumption  that  even  the  early  Germans  not 
only  stole  ornaments,  but  made  them.  The  skill  of 
Weland  in  making  the  most  artistic  ornaments,  such 
as  are  detailed  in  his  story,  leads  us  to  the  same 
inference.^ 

Passing  to  the  general  esteem  in  which  our  early 
Germans  held  the  smith,  we  find  that  when  such  a 
trade  was  plied  by  an  unfree  person,  his  wergild  rose 
very  high,  the  goldsmith's  highest  of  all.2  In  Anglo- 
Saxon  laws  the  king's  smith  is  mentioned  as  an  im- 
portant person.3  When  a  gesithcund  man,  that  is, 
one  of  the  great  persons  of  the  kingdom,  moves  his 
residence,  the  laws  of  Ine  allow  him  to  take  with  him 
his  reeves  (gerSfan, —  socios  suds'),  his  smith,  and  his 
child's  nurse.*  We  hear  in  another  place  of  a  special 
punishment  for  injury  done  to  the  hand  "of  the 
harper,  the  goldsmith,  and  the  embroideress."  ^ 

Trade,  which  has  so  often  opened  new  countries  to 
the  civilized  world,  found  early  its  way  into  Ger- 
many. True,  the  account  of  Caesar  shows  little  of 
what  we  now  call  commerce ;   traders,  he  says,  are 

1  The  splendid  arms  of  the  Cimbrians  in  Italy,  and  especially  the 
brazen  bull  which  they  carried  about  with  them  (Plutarch's  Afarn/s), 
are  hardly  in  point.  There  had  been  too  many  opportunities  for  plun- 
der and  trade  during  their  long  migrations.  But  those  **  images  of  wild 
animals  taken  from  the  sacred  groves,"  which  Tacitus  mentions  (Hist. 
IV.  22),  are  better  evidence. 

2  Cf.  T.  Wright,  Celt,  Roman,  and  Saxon,  p.  486,  with  references. 

3  Schmid,  Ges.  p.  2.  ■*  Schmid,  p.  50. 

s  Lex  Anglor.  et  Werinor.  tit.  V.  20 ;  see  Thorpe's  Lappenberg,  Anglo- 
Saxon  Kings,  1. 120,  Bohn's  ed.  "Music  and  the  smith's  craft,"  says 
Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  49,  with  reference  to  Jubal  and  Tubal  Cain, 
"  are  the  oldest  industries." 


212 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


admitted  among  the  Germans,  but  it  is  mainly  that 
the  spoils  of  war  may  be  disposed  of  rather  than  for 
any  lust  after  imported  articles.     Especially  is  the 
importing  of  wine  forbidden,  because  the  Germans 
think   they   are    made    too   soft    and   effeminate    by 
its  use.i     Moreover,  the   products  of  the  spinning- 
wheel  soon  found  their  way  into  a  profitable  market. 
On  the  whole,  however,  such  commerce  as  the  Ger- 
man knew  must  have  been  of  a  fitful  and  fragmentary 
kind.     Holtzmann  says  roundly  that  a  band  of  rob- 
bers has  no  trade.     Again,  we  know  that  the  German 
hated  cities ;  and  these  are  of  course  the  result  and 
prop  of  trade,  the  local  fixing  of  a  market.     Still, 
traders  went  about  among  the  German  tribes;   and 
Baumstark  reminds  us  ^  of  the  Germanic  hospitality 
as   likely  to   cover  even   these   isolated   merchants. 
They  were  probably  half-breeds  or  freedmen.      No 
freeborn  German,  we  may  conclude,  ever  stooped  to 
trade ;  he  fought  for  his  living,  although  there  was 
much  incidental  plunder.    Tacitus  tells  us  that  when 
no  war  was  near  at  hand,  the  adventurous  young 
man  took  up  distant  and  doubtful  quarrels  and  found 
fight  where  he  could,  —  a  sort  of  speculation  a  fonds 
perdus.     Even  the  plunder  of  these  ceaseless  wars 
made  a  merchant  desirable,  and  a  sense  of  advantage 
prompted  the  German  to  accord  certain  rights  to  a 
foreign  trader.^     Wine,  —  when  not  forbidden,  as  by 

1  Cces.  B.  G.  IV.  2.  This  is  said  of  the  Suevians.  The  Ubii,  another 
German  tribe,  who  lived  close  to  the  Rhine,  admitted  traders  freely. 
IV.  3.  Roman  traders  among  the  Germans  are  mentioned,  e.g.  Tac. 
Hist.  IV.  15. 

2  Germ.  p.  300. 

8  In  later  times,  of  course,  the  king  protected  merchants.  See 
Alfred's  laws,  p.  34;  "  Einleitung,"  LXIV.,  and  below,  p.  288. 


i 


TRADE  AND  COMMERCE 


213 


•1 


I 


1^ 


Caesar's  Suevi,  —  ornaments  of  that  flashy  charac- 
ter, doubtless,  which  have  always  attracted  primitive 
races,  and  such  matters,  were  coveted  property ;  and 
it  was  occasionally  good  to  procure  them  without 
fatiguing  preliminaries  with  the  legions.  Baumstark 
breaks  a  lance,  in  his  usual  impetuous  fashion,  for 
the  native  German  trader,  apart  from  the  warriors ; 
and  insists  that  such  home  merchants  bought  of  the 
Roman  and  sold  to  their  remoter  countrymen.  Taci- 
tus expressly  tells  us  that  the  interior  tribes  carry  on 
commerce  by  barter  ;i  while  the  others  use  Roman 
money.  We  may  feel  sure  that  there  was  consider- 
able trade  in  salt,  the  oldest  commodity  traded  from 
tribe  to  tribe  .^ 

Germanic  exports  were  slaves,  amber,  skins,  woven 
stuffs,  chiefly  linen,  soap,  goose-feathers,  and  proba- 
bly many  other  articles  which  had  become  essential 
to  Roman  luxury.  The  imports  were  not  of  a  very 
solid  character,  for  each  Germanic  household  pro- 
vided its  own  necessities ;  in  early  times  iron  and  its 
finished  products,  chiefly  weapons,  may  have  made 
an  exception,  but  a  law  of  the  empire  wisely  forbade 
the  exporting  of  iron  in  any  shape  from  Rome  into 
Germany.  With  no  cities  to  collect  and  divide  labor, 
the  German  did  considerable  part  of  his  own  do- 
mestic trading  at  the  religious  festivals,  when  scat- 
tered members  of  a  clan  or  confederation  of  tribes 
came  together  to  worship  a  common  deity.  The  fair 
or  Messe  of  to-day  represents  the  old  combination  of 
cult  and  trade,  though  the  latter  element  alone  sur- 
vives. 

1  *•  Permutatione  mercium  utantur."   Germ.  V.     See   Baumstark, 
p.  197. 

2  See  Hehn's  monograph,  quoted  above  (Das  Salz). 


214 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


For  the  trade  with  Rome,  carried  on  by  that  class 
of  half-breeds  and  nondescripts  always  found  on  the 
border  between  civilized  and  uncivilized  lands,  we 
may  safely  assume  amber  as  the  oldest  and  most  im- 
portant staple.i  The  export  of  amber  led  to  the  first 
communications  recorded  between  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  and  the  civilized  world  about  the  Mediterra- 
nean ;  2  Greeks,  Syrians,  and  Egyptians  knew  its  use. 
To  the  Romans  amber  was  first  known  as  a  product 
of  the  Baltic  coast  about  the  time  that  Drusus  made 
his  great  cam.paign,  a  few  years  before  the  beginning 
of  our  era ;  ^  and  it  soon  became  a  very  popular  arti- 
cle in  the  Roman  market.  Used  by  rich  and  poor,*  it 
was  employed  not  only  for  charms  and  amulets,  but 
was  recommended  by  physicians  as  a  potent  remedy 
for  disease.  Indeed,  cheap  or  "imitation"  jewelry 
was  made  of  it,  and  it  furnished  a  good  counterfeit 
of  certain  precious  stones,  like  the  topaz.  In  the 
time  of  Nero  a  Roman  knight  went  to  the  source  of 
supply,  and  brought  back  enough  to  cover  the  nets 
which  surrounded  the  circus,  —  an  enormous  freight, 
with  one  piece  weighing  thirteen  pounds  alone.^ 

The  Germans  themselves  were  not  blind  to  the 
merits  of  their  chief  export.  Graves  of  scattered 
races  dotted  about  the  continent,  often  far  from  the 
bit  of  territory  which  produced  the  whole  supply, 
testify  to  the  love  of  our  forefathers  for  ornaments 
and  charms  of  amber.  Tacitus,  it  is  true,  says  that 
the  people  who  gather  what  in  their  own  tongue  they 

1  Wackeraagel,  Kl.  Schr.  1. 72.  a  See  above,  p.  11. 

8  Miillenhoff,  Deutsche  Alter thumskiinde,  II.  31. 

<  Dahn,  Bausteine,  I.  20  f. 

«  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  XXXVII.  11,  2,  quoted  by  Wackernagel,  I.  76. 


TRADE  AND  COMMERCE 


215 


call  glesurriy  a  word  evidently  connected  with  "  glass," 
do  not  use  it,  but  export  it  in  the  raw  state.^  This, 
however,  does  not  exclude  the  use  of  it  by  neighbor- 
ing Germanic  tribes.  Valuable  as  this  export  seemed, 
there  was  one  article  which  the  Romans  sent  in  ex- 
change to  Germany,  a  shrewd  bargain  for  the  north, 
and  worth  a  wilderness  of  amber,  —  the  alphabet.  The 
so-called  runic  alphabet,  about  which  theories  of  the 
wildest  possible  nature  have  been  advocated,  is  now 
generally  admitted  to  have  been  introduced  among 
German  tribes  about  the  end  of  the  second  century 
after  Christ,  and  is  simply  the  Roman  system  of  let- 
ters, modified  by  the  needs  of  cutting  in  stone  or 
wood,  and  by  the  inevitable  variation  of  imperfect 
and  distant  copies.^ 

The  Germans  further  exported  an  unsightly,  but 
tough  little  breed  of  horses,  not,  of  course,  the  wild 
race  referred  to  above  as  a  part  of  Germanic  food,  but 
such  as  were  trained  to  the  saddle,  —  that  is  to  say, 
to  military  work ;  "  for  nothing  is  held  so  shameful 
and  effeminate  among  them  as  to  use  the  saddle."  ^ 
Moreover,  a  few  articles  were  exported  for  the 
Roman  table;  such  were  the  beets  and  turnips  of 
which  Tiberius  was  so  fond.^ 

All  this  trading,  or  nearly  all  of  it,  was  naturally 
overland ;  for  from  time  immemorial  there  had  been 
a  trade-route  from  the  Baltic  to  the  south.     Of  traf- 


1  Germ.  XLV.  For  the  old  paths  of  commerce  from  Germany  to  the 
south,  see  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  75  f. 

2  See  p.  468,  below ;  and  the  standard  work  of  L.  F.  A.  Wimmer,  Die 
Rtmenschrift,  German  trans,  by  Holthausen,  1887;  also  Sievers  in 
Paul's  Grdrs.  I.  238  flf . 

8  Caesar  B.  G.  IV.  2. 

*  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  XIX.  28,  and  Wackernagel,  Kl,  Schr.  1. 62. 


216 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


fic  by  water  there  is  not  so  clear  a  record,^  but  it 
reaches  back  into  the  realm  of  myth;  and  as  the 
smith's  art  should  properly  begin  with  a  Germanic 
Vulcan,  so  we  look  for  our  earliest  seafarers  to  the 
myths  of  Sc^af,  of  Wade,  and  of  Hilde.  Leaving 
aside  for  the  present  all  myth  for  myth's  sake,  we  may 
point  to  the  venerable  form  of  Sc^af  as  representative 
of  the  seafaring  instinct  in  our  oldest  ancestors,  the 
people  who  lived  along  the  German  Ocean,  and  on 
both  sides  of  the  Cimbrian  peninsula.^  Connected 
with  this  purely  mythical  and  shadowy  but  enticing 
figure  are  the  clearer-outlined  forms  of  Scandinavian 
Freyr  and  that  earlier  Nerthus,  goddess  of  plenty, 
whom  Tacitus  has  drawn  for  us.  Peace  and  plenty 
go  with  trade  ;  and  we  are  sure  enough  that  Freyr 
was  the  merchant-sailor's  god,  and  gave  him  favoring 
winds.  Of  Ing,  the  founder  of  our  Ingsevonic  race, 
we  have  vague  hints  of  a  seafaring  proclivity ;  and 
the  famous  swimming-match  of  Beowulf  and  Breca, 
translated  above,^  is  thought  by  Miillenhoff  to  be  a 
myth  of  the  northward  progress  of  culture  and  trade 
in  the  figure  of  the  cult-hero  or  god  making  his  way 
through  the  frozen  and  unfriendly  seas.  But  these 
are  no  new  things;  the  tradition  of  them  reaches 
back  into  a  dim  antiquity.  Likewise  of  primitive  Ger- 
manic origin,  thinks  Symons,*  is  the  widespread  myth 
or  legend  of  Hilde,  full  of  the  plunge  of  ocean  bil- 
lows; it  found  special  welcome  and  cultivation  in 
the  Netherlands,^  and  is  the  basis  of  the  beautiful 
German  epic  Kudrun,     Again,  Wade,^  that  is  "  the 

1  Ibid.  p.  78  ff.  2  See  above,  p.  49.  8  p.  114. 

4  In  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  1.  51  ff. 

6  There  is  allusion  to  one  of  its  characters  in  our  oldest  English 
lyric,  Deor.  ^  Symons,  as  above,  pp.  11,  55. 


U 


TRADE   AND   COMMERCE 


217 


wader,"  originally  doubtless  a  sea-monster  of  some 
sort,  is  the  father  of  our  smith  Wayland,  and  is 
mentioned,  along  with  his  boat,  by  Chaucer.^  So 
thoroughly  are  all  these  myths  and  legends  mingled 
with  the  sights  and  sounds  of  ocean,  that  we  are  jus- 
tified in  thinking  of  the  Ingaevones  as  a  race  of  sea- 
farers from  the  most  primitive  times.  One  strong 
proof  of  this  seafaring  instinct  is  found  in  the  burial 
of  Germans  in  ship-like  tombs,  or  in  real  boats,  and  in 
the  universal  belief  in  a  spirit-land  whither  souls  are 
ferried  in  some  ghostly  ship.2 

Let  us  now  turn  from  myth  to  history.  As  usual, 
the  exaggeration  of  the  former  is  offset  by  a  most 
melancholy  depreciation  in  the  latter.  Pliny  and 
Tacitus  tell  us  of  the  awkward  canoes  and  the  hol- 
lowed tree-trunks  used  along  the  northern  coast  of 
Germany .3  There  is  a  dash  of  the  picturesque  in  the 
following  story  of  an  eye-witness,  the  historian  Vel- 
lejus  Paterculus,  who  served  with  Tiberius  in  the 
German  campaigns.  The  Roman  army  was  en- 
camped upon  the  Elbe  in  the  very  heart  of  Germany. 
On  one  side  rose  the  camp  of  Rome  ;  the  opposite  bank 
glittered  with  hostile  arms,  until  the  imperial  ships 

1  Cant.  Tales,  v.  9299,  in  the  Merchant's  Tale :  "  Wades  hoot  (hoat)." 
Miillenhoflf  in  IlaupVs  Zst.  VI.  67  fiP.  comments  on  this  and  other  men- 
tion of  Wade. 

2  See  below,  p.  326. 

8  Holding,  we  must  remember,  thirty  men  or  more  apiece,  and 
making  head  against  the  fleet  of  Rome.  Germans  also  used  captured 
Roman  ships.  Back,  moreover,  of  all  Roman  influences,  we  find  in  the 
rock-pictures  of  the  Scandinavian  bronze-age,  representations  of  boats, 
high  in  bow  and  stern,  and  meant  for  rowing.  In  the  early  iron  age 
boats  were  built  of  admirable  lines,  and  calculated  for  some  thirty 
oars;  we  should  prefer  to  trust  a  Northman's  judgment  of  good  boats 
rather  than  the  opinion  even  of  Admiral  Pliny.  See  Kalund  in  Paul's 
Grdr,  II.  2.  210  f . 


218 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


arrived.  About  this  time  an  elderly  German  of  fine 
appearance  and,  to  judge  from  his  arms,  of  high  rank, 
took  boat  —  a  trough-like  affair  of  hollowed  wood  — 
and  rowed  to  the  middle  of  the  river,  asking  that  he 
might  be  permitted  to  land  and  gaze  upon  the  Caesar 
in  all  his  state.  Then  follows  a  wealth  of  compli- 
ment for  Tiberius;  but  as  Vellejus  was  himself 
present,  and  as  the  scene  must  have  been  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Elbe,  we  may  without  great  danger 
behold  in  the  curious  barbarian  one  of  our  own  fore- 
fathers, or  a  near  relative  of  them,  and  accept  the 
picture  as  one  among  the  very  few  authentic  ancestral 
portraits  from  that  time  of  which  we  can  boast  owner- 
ship.i  From  such  a  boat  to  the  exquisite  lines  of  the 
Viking  ship  now  preserved  at  Christiania,  and  said  to 
be  over  a  thousand  years  old,  is  no  leap  of  a  decade  or 
so.  Still,  we  may  be  sure  that  these  Germans  of  the 
coast  knew  in  their  way  as  much  about  boats  as  the 
Romans  did ;  and  their  rough  canoes  may  have  been 
seaworthy  enough.  The  Chauci  actually  used  them 
on  plundering  expeditions  to  the  coasts  of  Gaul.  In 
the  third  century  our  Saxons  ^  suddenly  appear  as 
accomplished  sailors,  and  their  swift  keels  measure  the 
ways  of  ocean  in  all  directions,  —  witness  the  Saxon 
shore  of  Britain,  and  the  long  line  of  fortified  points  to 
guard  the  colony  against  a  tireless  foe.  These  Saxons 
are  said  to  have  learned  the  art  of  shipbuilding  by 
the  treachery  of  Carausius.^  Hehn,  too,  insists  that  it 
was  only  when  they  hjid  borrowed  from  neighboring 

1  Veil.  II.  107. 

2  Also  tribes  from  the  Baltic,  like  the  Heruli.    Mullenhoflf,  Beovulf, 
p.  19. 

8  Lappenberg  says  he  was  of  Germanic  extraction.    Anglo-Saxon 
Ki7igs,^  I.  67. 


II 


TRADE   AND  COMMERCE 


219 


people  the  idea  and  use  of  sails  that  the  Saxons  were 

able  to  play  their  pirate   parts;    but  not   quite  so 

rapidly  are  sailors  made.     In  the   G-ermania,'^  Tacitus 

describes  the  Norsemen  as  ignorant  of  sails ;  their  boats 

are  two-prowed,  and  are  not  arranged  with  permanent 

rows  of  oars.     But  as  oars  still  remained  a  prominent 

feature  of  the  Viking  ships,  so  we  are  fain  to  think  that 

even  the  sailless  craft  of  our  Saxon  forefathers  were 

at  home  on  the  high  sea  itself,  and  dared  many  a  bit 

of  piracy  with  nothing  but  stout  hands  to  propel  as 

well  as  man  the  boat.     As  time  passes,  these  Saxons 

achieve  a  great  reputation  for  their  skill  and  ferocity 

upon  the  water.     Sidonius  Apollinaris  describes  them 

in  a  letter,  as  well  as  in  one  of  his  poems ;  2  they  are 

perfectly  at  home  upon  the  stormy  sea,  and  govern 

their  boats  in  a  fashion  evidently  puzzling  to   the 
poet.3 

The  booty  won  by  these  raids  can  hardly  be  called 
merchandise,  but  it  made  occasion,  and  even  need,  of 
later  traffic.     We  know  that  the  Scandinavian  trade 
with  Ireland  began  in  and  even  before  the  Viking 
period ;  the  influence  of  Irish  art  is  plainly  seen  in 
Norse  ornamental  work.^     Even  the  Viking  raids, 
that  organized  system  of  plunder  pure  and  simple 
which  attained  its  height  about  the  tenth  century, 
opened,  like  the  crusades,  a  way  for  commerce.     And 
let  us  particularly  remember  that  this  Viking  instinct  * 
lay  in  the  race ;  its  great  success  came  with  its  great 
opportunity.     The  beginnings  of  it,  however,  are  to 
be  sought  in  those  rudest  possible   forerunners  of 

\  ^I^rV.  2  Both  extracts  in  Zeuss,  p.  490. 

8  "  Hostis  est  omni  hoste  truculentior.    Improvisus  aggreditur,  pra- 
visus  elabitur.  ...    Si  sequatur,  intereepit;  si  fugiat.  eyadit." 
^  Montelius,  work  quoted,  p.  136. 


220 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


1 


modern  Red  Rovers,  —  the  wretched  boats  burnt  or 
otherwise  hollowed  from  a  tree-trunk,  in  which  the 
indomitable  Chauci  faced  a  Roman  fleet  (whether 
these  naked  desperadoes  were  any  more  prcedones,  — 
it  is  Pliny's  word,  —  than  the  imperial  visitors  them- 
selves, is  not  at  all  certain),  or  the  lintres,  the  light 
canoes  assigned  to  the  same  neighborhood  by 
Tacitus.^ 

Trade,  as  may  be  seen,  ran  fairly  abreast  of  all  this 
plundering,  even  on  the  unsatisfactory  footing  of 
stolen  goods.2  There  were  profits  large  enough  to 
tempt  the  daring  trader;  and  does  not  commerce 
nearly  always  begin  with  its  wares  in  one  hand 
and  a  sword  in  the  other?  It  must  have  been  a  nice 
art  in  those  old  days  to  tell  a  pirate  from  a  peaceful 
trader  or  visitor ;  and  the  duty  of  the  •"  strand  ward  " 
at  Hrothgar's  chief  harbor  could  have  been  no  sine- 
cure. Striking  is  the  picture  of  this  coast-guard  who 
rides  along  the  headlands  to  watch  the  stretch  of  sea, 
and  spying  the  boat  of  Bdowulf,  gallops  down  to 
meet  him  at  the  strand,  shakes  the  long  spear,  and 
asks  what  has  brought  him  and  his  vassals  hither, 
peace  or  war :  — 

What  are  ye,  then,  of  armed  meu, 
mailed  folk,  who  the  foaming  keel 
have  urged  thus  over  the  ocean  ways, 
over  water-ridges  the  ringed  prow  ?  ^ 

With  the  art  of  oar  and  sail  went  the  knowledge 
of  the  pilot.     Such  a  person  guides  Beowulf  and  his 

1  Ann.  XI.  18. 

2  When  in  B^ow.  57,  certain  treasures  are  called  of  feorwegum, 
"fetched  from  far,"  are  we  to  infer  a  peaceful  Importation  or  mere 
plunder  ?  »  B€ow.  237  ff . 


jg!;ij«i«' 


TRADE  AND   COMMERCE 


221 


\ 


men  upon  their  journey  over  the  sea,  and  is  called  a 
lagucrceftig  mon^  "  one  who  knows  the  waters."  With 
the  opening  of  history  we  find  our  forefathers  pos- 
sessed by  a  passion  for  voyage  and  ocean-adventure  ; 
it  fills  their  descendants  of  to-day;  and  we  reason- 
ably infer  it  in  those  older  ancestors  of  whom  history 
is  silent,  and  whose  deeds  waver  doubtfully  in  the 
mist  of  legend  and  tradition.  Die  Nordsee  ist  eine 
Mordsee;  its  first  Germanic  victim,  "long-headed 
blond  "  or  what  not,  has  had  no  lack  of  followers.^ 

Lastly,  we  turn  to  those  figures  in  which  Germanic 
poetry  has  expressed  its  love  of  the  sea,  of  ship  and 
storm  and  life  upon  the  waves.  As  we  read  the  early 
pages  of  Grein's  collection  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry, 
how  the  monotony  is  broken  when  once  the  fiery 
singer  of  "  Exodus  "  fairly  comes  in  sight  of  the  Red 
Sea ;  and  what  wealth  of  image  and  trope  to  describe 
the  triumph  of  that  "  hoary  warrior,"  ocean,  over  the 
hosts  of  Pharaoh !  No  more  sympathetic  picture  has 
been  drawn  by  an  Anglo-Saxon  poet  than  where  the 
wanderer  2  in  exile  falls  asleep  at  his  oar  and  dreams 
again  of  his  dead  lord  and  the  old  hall  and  revelry 
and  joy  and  gifts,  —  then  wakes  to  look  once  more 
upon  the  waste  of  ocean,  snow  and  hail  falling  all 
around  him,  and  sea-birds  dipping  in  the  spray :  — 

Him  seems  at  soul  that  he  sees  his  master, 
clips  him  and  kisses  and  lays  on  his  knee 
head  and  hand  (as  erewhile  he  used 
in  days  that  are  gone),  of  the  gift-throne  fain. 

1  Wackernagel  {Kl,  Schr.  185)  remarks  that  practically  all  technical 
terms  used  by  sailors  are  of  Germanic  origin,  and  that  marine  activity, 
even  when  shown  by  Celtic  races,  is  due  to  Germanic  beginnings. 

2  Poem  of  same  name,  Grein-Wulker,  Bibl.  I.  285,  37  ff. 


222  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

Then  once  more  wakens  the  weary  outlaw, 
sees  before  him  fallow  waves, 
plunge  of  sea-birds,  spreading  plumage, 
hoarfrost  and  snow  with  hail  commingled.  .  .  . 

So  fares  the  man  fated  "  to  stir  with  hands  the  rime- 
cold  sea."      Yet   another   picture   of   the  same  sort 
greets  us  in  the  Seafarer.  ^     These  are  descriptions ; 
let  us  look  a  moment  at  the  poetical  figures  themselves, 
the  kennings  for  sea,  ship,  and  sailor.     For  "  sea  " 
Bode  counts  twenty  "  literal  "  terms  in  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  could  add  more.     Of  figurative  terms  we  have 
such  kennings  as :  the  home  of  the  whale,  the  realm 
of  monsters,  the  sea-fowl's  bath,  the  pathway  of  the 
whalcj  the   swan-road,  the  sail-street,  the  beaker  of 
the  waves,  the  realm  of  billows,  the  water-fortress, 
the   wave-roll,   the   salt-stream,  —  and  that  difficult 
word,  gdrsecg.      The  frozen  sea  is  called  "  waves'  fet- 
ters."    For  "ship"  we  have  the  wave-stallion    (we 
still  say  a  ship  rides  at  anchor),  sea-horse,  sea-swim- 
mer, wave-walker,  surf-wood,  the   tarred  board,  the 
wave  house,  the  curved  prow,  the  ringed  prow  (on 
account  of  the  ornaments  of  the  bow).     A  sailor  is 
called  sea-rider,  or  guest  of  the  waves,  in  addition  to 
a  number  of  literal  terms.^     These  are  Anglo-Saxon, 
but  the  life  of  the  Scandinavian  Vikings  developed 
such  simpler  kennings  into  an  ingenuity  and  obscurity 
which  belong  more  to  puzzles  than  to  ordinary  verse. ^ 
Commerce    nowadays    implies    an     exchangeable 
medium  and  interest  on  capital.      The  latter,  says 
Tacitus,  was  unknown  to  our  Germans ;  and  out  of 

1  Wulker-Grein,  I.  290  flP. 

2  See  Bode's  dissertation  on  Kenningar  in  d.  Ar/s.  Dichtitng,  1886. 
«  Examples  in  Vigf usson-Powell,  C.  P.  B.  II.  457  ff. 


TRADE   AND  COMMERCE 


223 


this  fact  he  makes  great  trumpetings  for  their  virtue. 
The  currency,  he  says,  was  in  terms  of  flocks  and 
herds ;  ^  and  we  infer  that  a  definite  kind  of  animal  — 
in  Scandinavia  it  was  the  milch-cow  —  made  a  unit 
of  value  .^  Three  one-year  calves  are  there  worth  one 
cow,  while  a  seven-year  bull  is  worth  two  cows,  and 
a  stallion  from  four  to  ten  years  old  equals  one  cow. 
"Three  times  eighty  "  pounds  of  sheep's  wool  were  also 
worth  one  cow.  So  ran  Scandinavian  computation, 
though  cloth  or  linen  was  often  reckoned  as  standard 
of  value.  Milk  and  cheese  have  here  and  there 
passed  for  money.^  The  Anglo-Saxon  values  of 
flocks  are  set  forth  in  the  laws ; ^  as  "a  sheep  with  its 
lamb  is  worth  one  shilling  until  fourteen  days  after 
Easter,"  or  "  the  horn  of  an  ox  is  worth  ten  pennies 
(jpceningd).^'*  In  the  seventh  century,  horses  were 
used  as  standard  of  value,  and  fines  levied  in  corre- 
sponding terms.^  But  actual  money  in  the  shape  of 
Roman  coins  was  known  even  among  the  Germans  of 
Tacitus.  Probably  to  prevent  the  use  of  counterfeit 
coin  in  their  trade,^  Germans,  as  Tacitus  narrates, 
preferred  old  Roman  coins  of  the  Republic,  many  of 
which  had  serrated  edges  and  could  not  be  clipped ; 
silver,  moreover,  they  preferred  to  gold.  All  this 
is  evidence  of  bargain  and  sale,  as  well  as  mere  ex- 
change. Among  the  more  important  commercial 
transactions,  we  may  safely  reckon  the  sale  of  real 
estate,  a  species  of  trade  which,  in  whatever  form  and 

1  Germ.  XXI.  2  Von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr,  II.  2, 154. 

*  Rochholz,  Deutscher  Glaube  und  Branch,  1. 12. 
^  Schmid,  p.  48,  §§  55,  58,  59. 

6  Otto  I.  "  condemnavit  Everhardum  centum  talentis  aestimatione 
equorum."     R.  A.  686  f. 

6  Wackernagel,  Kl.  Schr.  I.  64 ;  Germ.  V. 


M 


224 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


TRADE   AND  COMMERCE 


225 


frequency,  must  have  been  familiar  to  the  ancient  Ger- 
mans. This  we  may  fairly  infer  from  the  symbolism 
in  later  transactions  of  the  sort.  A  stick  or  branch 
from  the  growing  timber,  a  piece  of  the  actual  turf 
or  sod,  a  blade  of  grass,  were  handed  in  presence  of 
witnesses  to  the  new  possessor.^  The  cleverness  and 
presence  of  mind  of  William  the  Conqueror  are 
nowhere  better  seen  than  in  the  jest  with  which  he 
rose  from  his  fall  on  touching  English  ground,  with  a 
handful  of  earth  as  symbol  that  he  took  possession  of 
the  realm.  This  appealed  to  the  men  whose  Scandi- 
navian blood  still  flowed  in  comparative  purity. 

Of  regular  Germanic  professions  there  can  be  even 
less  record  than  of  trade.  The  healing  art  was  largely 
bound  up  with  religious  rites,  as  the  charms  and 
incantations  testify ;  ^  but  there  was  the  beginning  of 
a  science  in  the  selection  of  herbs  and  simples.  The 
confusion  of  both  methods  may  be  seen  in  such  a 
collection  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cockayne's  Leechdoms, 
Wortcunning^  and  Stareraft  of  Early  England.^ 
Women  had  much  to  do  with  these  things ;  and  the 
sibyl  was  no  doubt  invoked  for  aid  in  case  of  disease 
or  hurt.  It  is  curious  enough  that  painful  attacks  of 
gout  or  rheumatism  were  attributed  to  the  arrows  of 
the  "  hags,"  the  mighty  women  who  course  the  sky, 
and  send  their  shafts  at  the  unwary  mortal.*  This  for 
the  matter  of  ordinary  medicine  ;  but  so  far  as  surgery 
was  concerned,  Weinhold^  is  of  opinion  that  an  age  of 
constant  warfare  and  battles  would  attain  considerable 


skill  in  the  treatment  of  wounds,  the  art  of  amputa- 
tion, and  kindred  matters.  As  for  other  professions, 
the  schoolmaster  was  emphatically  "  abroad,"  and  the 
lawyer  was  chieftain  or  priest.^ 

1  For  the  monopoly  of  legal  lore  by  the  Indian  priests,  see  Sir  H. 
Maine,  Early  Law  and  Custom,  p.  46. 


1  R.  A.  112  ff.  2  See  below,  p.  423. 

»  Master  of  the  Rolls  Series,  London,  1864-1866. 
■*  See  below,  p.  .372.    The  Germans  still  call  such  a  twinge  Hexen- 
schuss.  5  Altnord.  Leben,  387. 


••'  • 


226 


gekma:nic  origins 


THE   WARRIOR 


227 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  WARRIOR 

Military  service  of  two  kinds  —  War  the  chief  business  of 
Germanic  life  —  Courage  —  Types  of  the  warrior  —  Cowardice  — 
Germanic  weapons  —  Armor  —  Cavalry  —  Importance  of  the  in- 
fantry —  Tactics  of  the  army  —  The  onset  —  Second  kind  of 
military  service  —  The  comitatus  —  Its  meaning  in  Germanic  life 
and  history  —  Age  at  which  the  German  took  up  arms. 

Unquestioned  and  absolute  lord  of  his  household, 
the  free  German  had  well-defined  duties  towards  the 
state.  These  duties  were  military  and  civil ;  and,  as 
we  may  well  imagine,  the  military  were  of  chief  im- 
portance. In  Anglo-Saxon  times,  both  varieties  are 
represented  by  the  three  obligations  laid  upon  every 
free  citizen  (thane) :  to  repair  the  burg  or  fortified 
place,  to  mend  the  bridges,  and  to  serve  in  the  militia.^ 
Military  service,  obligatory  upon  every  Germanic  cit- 
izen, called  him  in  time  of  need  to  take  his  place  in 
the  general  army,  which  was  simply  "the  folk  in 
arms."  ^  A  second  sort  of  military  service  was  volun- 
tary ;  the  free  man  fought  abroad  under  foreign 
princes  or  wherever  war  could  be  found.  But  service 
in  the  main  army  was  a  very  frequent  matter,  calling 
for  and  developing  the  supreme  Germanic  virtue,  — 

1  See,  among  other  cases,  Schmid,  p.  224  (iEthelr.  V.  2G). 

2  Waitz,  I.  402. 


a  virtue  that  was  born  in  the  freeman,  and  made 
strong  in  him  by  every  possible  device  of  example 
and  training.  In  fact,  the  whole  education  of  a 
Germanic  youth  was  a  lesson  de  contem7ienda  morte.^ 
Now  Rome  was  a  military  state  and  was  founded 
upon  the  idea  of  a  folk  in  arms ;  but  the  despemte 
courage  of  the  German  warrior  made  an  almost 
uncanny  impression  upon  the  legions.  As  for  the 
Germans,  they  had  no  false  modesty  about  their 
merits.  During  the  reign  of  Nero,  certain  Frisian 
ambassadors  came  to  Rome  and  in  the  course  of  their 
entertainment  were  brought  into  the  theatre.  Here 
they  quietly  and  uninvited  took  the  seats  of  honor, 
remarking  that  no  people  in  the  world  surpassed  the 
Germans  in  courage.  As  we  have  repeatedly  noticed, 
they  always  went  about  armed,  no  matter  how  peace- 
ful their  business  of  the  moment  ;2  and  a  man  unarmed 
was  no  better  than  a  slave.  They  took  their  weapons 
to  bed  with  them,  as  we  may  read  in  the  account  of 
Beowulf's  watch  in  the  hall  on  the  night  when  he 
expects  a  visit  from  the  monster  Grendel.^  There 
are  some  very  curious  regulations  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
laws  with  regard  to  the  degree  of  blame  and  the  fine 
attaching  to  a  man  who  carries  his  spear  so  carelessly 
over  his  shoulder  as  to  injure  other  people ;  ^  and 
we  may  see  the  earliest  advances  of  law  over  license 
in  the  edicts  against  drawing  a  weapon  in  the  hall 

1  Miillenhoff's  fine  summary  may  be  quoted:  "Etenim  majoribus 
nostris  fortitude  non  mode  summa  sed  prope  divina  virtus  ac  sola 
pugna  esse  videbatur,  qua  simul  et  omnis  viri  virtus  et  suprema  om- 
nium fatalis  vis  cemeretur."    De  antiq.  Germ,  poesi,  p.  12. 

2  Germ.  XIII.    J.  Grimm,  K.  A.  287. 

8  See  also  Lehman,  in  the  Germania,  Vol.  XXI.  p.  494. 
4  Schmid,  p.  90,  §  36. 


228 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


or  presence  of  the  king.^  Spear  and  shield  are  an 
easy  metonymy  for  warrior,  and  warrior  is  synonymous 
with  man ;  hence  the  legal  phrase  of  "  spear-side  "  for 
the  male  line  of  descent,  in  contrast  to  the  "  spindle  " 
of  the  female  side.  We  still  hear  occasionally  this 
phrase  of  "relatives  on  the  spindle  side"  used  for 
maternal  kin.  King  Alfred's  will  speaks  of  the 
spere-healfe  and  the  spinl-healfe? 

When  the  German  was  not  fighting,  he  loved  to 
feast  in  his  hall  and  hear  good  songs  and   tales    of 
war.     "  To  hear  of  battle  and  conquest  was  the  Ger- 
man's  delight;  "3  and   long  after  his  conversion  to 
Christianity,  it  is   the   deeds   of  valor  which   most 
attract   him  in   the   Bible   and   the   legends   of   the 
church.     The  poet  of  the  Heliand,  with  his  evident 
partiality  for  "  valorous  Earl  Peter,"  and  the  revel 
of  battle-metaphors  which  describe  the  attack  upon 
Malchus,  shows  what  he  would  do  if  only  the  quiet 
gospel  narrative  afforded  him  an  opportunity.     Com- 
ing back  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  we  find  the  subject  of 
Judith  offering  unusual  attractions  to  one  of  our  old 
but  nameless  poets ;  the  resolute  widow  smiting  off 
the  head  of  drunken  Holofernes,  the  ensuing  fight, 
the  rout  of  the  heathen,  are  all  close  to  the  Germanic 
heart,  and  it  responds  in  a  fiery  piece  of  epic,  per- 
haps our  finest  fragment  of  the  oldest  period.     From 
their   scraps  and  shards  of  poetry  alone  we   could 

1  Alfred's  Laws,  Schmid,  p.  74. 

2  Quoted  from  Thorpe's  Diplomatorium,  p.  491,  in  Wright's  Woman- 
kind in  Western  Europe,  p.  59.  "Das  nechste  blut  vom  schwert  [here 
takiog  place  of  spear]  geboren  erbet,  und  da  kein  schwert  vorhanden, 
erbet  die  spille."    R.  A.  163,  171. 

8  Grimm,  Andreas  und  Elene,  XXIV.;  Ten  Brink,  Geschichte  d, 
engl.  Lit,  p.  66  f . 


THE   WARRIOR 


229 


tell  why  Tacitus  calls  the  Germans  "a  race  that 
thirsts  for  dangers."  ^  The  passion  began  with  in- 
fancy. Tacitus,  speaking  of  the  Tencteri,  a  Low 
German  tribe  which  excelled  in  horsemanship,  says : 
"  Not  greater  among  the  Chatti  is  the  renown  of  the 
foot-soldier  than  the  fame  of  the  horseman  among 
the  Tencteri.  So  the  ancestors  established  it,  and 
so  the  offspring  imitate.  It  makes  the  sport  of 
children,  the  rivalry  of  youth,  the  habit  of  age."^ 
What  Tacitus  means  by  sport  of  children  is  evidently 
their  early  skill  in  sitting  and  managing  a  horse; 
but  a  certain  commentator  looks  deeper.  Evidently, 
he  says,  the  Tencterian  children  begin  their  chival- 
rous career  "on  wooden  rocking-horses."^  Caesar, 
too,  bears  testimony  to  this  training  of  the  German 
youth.  "All  their  life  is  spent  in  hunting  and  in 
military  exercise."  *  Seneca  speaks  of  their  "  tender 
children,"  who  early  learn  to  "  brandish  the  spear."  ^ 
A  host  of  later  Roman  witnesses  could  be  called, 
when  the  almost  generous  admiration  of  great  cap- 
tains like  Csesar,  and  statesmen  like  Tacitus,  changes 
into  the  tone  of  fear.  When  Salvianus  speaks  of  the 
Saxons  as  "ferocious  [efferi],"  we  have  a  whole  com- 
mentary on  the  changed  attitude  of  Rome  towards 
Germany.  True,  there  is  no  lack  of  justification  for 
the  phrase.  Whenever  we  wish  to  see  any  Germanic 
trait  in  its  most  exaggerated  form,  we  look  to  Scan- 

1  "  Gentes  periculorum  avidas."    Hist.  V.  19. 

2  Germ.  XXXII. 

8  We  quite  agree  with  Schweizer-Sidler  that  this  view  is  *^fast 
lacherlich." 

*  B.  O.  VI.  21. 

6  Epist.  36.  7.  Other  references  of  the  kind  will  be  found  in  Miil- 
lenboff's  article  on  the  Sword-Dance,  cited  above,  p.  112. 


230 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   WARRIOR 


231 


dinavia.  Of  course,  the  "  Bearsarks,''  the  Berserker^^ 
are  the  stock  illustration  of  the  old  Norse  ferocity 
and  lust  for  battle ;  yet  according  to  Vigfusson  and 
Powell,^  this  matter  of  the  Bearsark  rage  and  frenzy 
has  been  vastly  exaggerated.  "  Bearsarks  were  really 
chosen  champions;''  and  they  doubtless  made  great 
clamor  when  they  went  into  the  fight,  with  "  their  war- 
whoop,  and  the  rattling  of  sword  and  spear  against 
shield,"  which  only  agrees  with  the  Tacitean  account 
of  the  noise  made  by  a  German  line  of  battle  at  the 
first  wild  onset.  Bearsark,  gays  our  authority,  means 
simply  the  fur  coat  of  the  nobler  henchmen.  We 
may  remember  that  the  Germans  of  Tacitus  wore 
skins.  That  these  men  were  gentle,  is  not  asserted ; 
but  they  were  not  crazy.  The  Germanic  tempera- 
ment was  savage,  uncertain,  and  gloomy;  pent  up 
in  the  narrow  Norwegian  valleys,  ^  increased  by 
seclusion  and  intermarriage,  these  characteristics 
took  an  acute  form.  Even  in  recent  times,  the 
Norwegian's  knife  flashed  out  on  very  slight  provo- 
cation. Battle  would  naturally  fan  their  fury  to  its 
height;  but  it  was  all  in  the  way  of  natural,  not 
artificial  ferocity.  The  Bearsarks  were  not  pro- 
fessional lunatics. 

The  prime  quality  of  barbaric  courage  is  a  fine 
contempt  for  death.  Of  this  we  shall  have  more  to 
say  under  the  head  of  Germanic  belief  in  immortal- 
ity ;  here  we  may  consider  it  as  it  affects  the  war- 
rior.    High  over  all  suspicion  of  rhetoric  rises  the 

1  Maurer,  Bekehrung  der  Norweg.  Stamme,  II.  408,  makes  it  thus, 
and  refers  the  name  to  the  same  idea  as  that  of  werewolves.  Others 
insist  on  baresarks,  because  they  went  into  fight  without  armor. 

2  C.  P.  B,  I.  425,  530.  s  ibid.  p.  426. 


death-cry  of  Ragnar  Lodbrok,  as  he  lies  in  the  pit 
full  of  serpents :  — 

Lapsed  is  Hfe's  hour;  laughing  I  die.i 

It  was  the  Germanic  virtue  to  take  death  with  this 
"frolic  welcome."  The  Atla-Kvi^a  or  Old  Lay  of 
Atli  (Attila)  gives  us  an  excellent  illustration,  drawn 
in  sharper  lines  than  the  corresponding  scene  of  the 
Nibelungen  Lay.  The  translation  is  by  Vigfusson 
and  Powell: 2  — 

"  They  asked  the  brave  king  of  the  Goths  ^  if  he 
would  buy  his  life  with  gold.  [Then  said  Gunnar,] 
'Hogni's  bleeding  heart  must  be  laid  in  my  hand, 
carved  with  the  keen-cutting  knife  out  of  the  breast 
of  the  good  knight.'  They  carved  the  heart  of 
Hialli  (the  thrall)  from  out  his  breast  and  laid  it 
bleeding  on  a  charger  and  bore  it  to  Gunnar. 

"  Then  spake  Gunnar,  king  of  men :  '  Here  I  have 
the  heart  of  Hialli  the  coward,  unlike  to  the  heart 
of  Hogni  the  brave.  It  quakes  greatly  as  it  lies  on 
the  charger,  but  it  quaked  twice  as  much  when  it 
lay  in  his  breast.' 

"  Hogni  laughed  when  they  cut  out  the  quick  heart 
of  that  crested  hero,  he  had  little  thought  of  Avhim- 
pering.  They  laid  it  bleeding  on  the  charger,  and 
bore  it  before  Gunnar. 

"  Then  spake  Gunnar.  .  .  .  '  Here  have  I  the  heart 
of  Hogni  the  brave,  unlike  the  heart  of  Hialli  the 
coward.  It  quakes  very  little  as  it  lies  on  the  charger, 
but  it  quaked  far  less  when  it  lay  in  his  breast.' 

1  "Lifs  ero  liSnar  stundir,  laejandi  skal-ek  deyja."    See  C.  P  B  II 
341  flf.    Grimm,  G.  D.  S.  89  f. 

'^  I.  48 1.  8  Gunnar. 


232 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


"...  The  band  of  warriors  put  the  king  alive  into 
the  pit  that  was  crawling  with  serpents.  But  Gun- 
nar,  alone  there,  in  his  wrath  smote  the  harp  with 
his  hands ;  the  strings  rang  out." 

When  the  German  could  no  longer  "  drink  delight 
of  battle  with  his  peers  "  in  that  "  game  of  swords," 
as  his  most  popular  kenning  termed  the  battle,  he 
found  nothing  left  to  live  for,  and  was  fain  to  die. 
So  died  by  their  own  hand  those  noble  Sigambri, 
"  men  of  mark  "  in  their  clan,  whom,  though  ambas- 
sadors, Augustus  treacherously  disarmed  and  dis- 
tributed among  various  cities:  "out  of  very  shame 
they  put  themselves  to  death."  ^ 

Indeed,  wherever  we  look,  —  at  the  boys  who  learn 
to  back  a  steed  and  send  spears  home  to  the  mark,  at 
the  warlike  names  of  man  or  woman,  at  the  actual 
combat,  and  if,  perhaps,  we  include  the  fight  which 
late  Scandinavian  myths  insist  shall  end  the  world, 
—  everywhere  the  evidence  presses  upon  us  that  our 
ancestors  were  "  fond  o'  fechtin'  "  to  a  degree  rarely 
met  with  in  history.  The  very  metre  of  their  poetry  is 
the  clash  of  battle,  and  knows  scarcely  any  other  note. 
This  passioji  of  bravery,  not  uncommon  in  barbarians 
of  a  mounting  race,  was  further  strengthened  in  the 
German  by  his  belief  in  another  world.  The  belief 
itself  we  shall  consider  later,  but  its  fruits  we  may 
briefly  notice  in  this  place.  In  the  Pharsalia  of  Lu- 
can,2  the  connection  of  Germanic  courage  with  Ger- 
manic faith  is  strongly  asserted;  and  the  native  records 
themselves  are  full  of  the  same  testimony.  The  song 
of  Ragnar  Lodbrok,  from  which  a  quotation  was  just 
made,  contains  a  passage  which  shows  how  bravery 

1  Dio  Cass.  55.  VL,  and  Deutsche  Vorzeit,  p.  304.  «  I.  458  ff. 


THE   WARRIOR 


233 


and  faith  went  hand  in  hand.  "  The  fearless  man," 
says  Ragnar,  "does  not  quail  before  death.  I  shall 
not  come  into  Withri's  [Woden's]  hall  with  a  word  of 
fearT  Not,  we  can  almost  sa}^  not  as  a  tired  actor 
going  off  the  scenes  did  a  German  die;  but  rather 
as  the  actor,  fresh  from  his  rehearsal,  waiting  for  the 
word  that  sends  him  on  the  stage  before  an  audience 
of  warrioi-s  and  kings.  What  better  entrance  than 
in  the  thick  of  fight,  with  a  song  of  defiance  and  a 
laugh?  This  passion  of  ferocity,  tutored  by  cen- 
turies, results  at  last  in  the  calmer  and  nobler  but 
still  cheerful  courage  of  Harry  the  Fifth  at  Agin- 
court,  or  of  his  father's  antagonist  in  the  lists  at 
Coventry :  — 

As  gentle  and  as  jocund  as  to  jest 

Go  I  to  fight :  truth  hath  a  quiet  breast. 

Sometimes  the  consolations  of  death  are  based 
entirely  on  the  bravery  which  has  dared  it,  on  the 
source  of  it,  and  on  what  we  may  call  its  artistic 
setting  and  merit.  Fine  are  the  dying  words  of 
Wolfhart  in  the  Nibelungen  Lay.^  He  and  the 
youngest  of  the  Burgundian  kings  have  given  each 
other  mortal  wounds. 

And  if  my  kin  be  minded  to  weep  that  I  am  dead, 
Go  tell  the  best  and  dearest  that  this  is  what  I  said : 
They  must  not  wail  and  mourn  me,  there  is  no  reason  why; 
A  king's  right  hand  hath  slain  me,  a  lordly  death  I  die. 

This  has  a  fine  ring,  and  lacks  not  for  a  late  echo 
in  the  words  of  Hotspur  before  Shrewsbury  field :  — 

An  if  we  live,  we  live  to  tread  on  kings ; 

If  die,  brave  death  when  princes  die  with  us.^ 


1  N,  L.  2239. 


2  /.  Hen.  IV.  V.  2. 


I 


234 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


But  we  are  overwhelmed  with  material  of  this  sort ; 
take,  for  example,  that  highly  dramatic  scene  of 
the  Nibelungen  Lay,i  where  Dancwart  cuts  his  way 
through  the  Huns,  and  bursting  into  the  banquet 
hall,  where  sit  Etzel  and  Kriemhild  with  their  royal 
guests,  cries  out  to  his  brother  Hagen  that  all  the 
Burgundian  retainers  have  been  massacred  in  their 
quarters  ;  and  grim  Hagen  asks  :  — 

"  But  who  has  done  it,  then  ?  " 
"  That  has  fair  Master  Bloedel  and  with  him  all  his  men ! 
Yet  dearly  has  he  paid  us,  let  this  at  least  be  said. 
For  with  these  hands  of  mine,  I've  stricken  ofE  his  head." 

**  That  is  no  weeping  matter,"  made  answer  Hagen  bold ; 

"  If  only  of  a  warrior  such  story  may  be  told, 

That  hero's  hand  hath  slain  him  in  free  and  open  fight :  — 

For  such  a  death  fair  women  should  make  their  mourning  light." 

The  thought  lapses  from  this  grave  old  setting  into 
the  lighter  frame  of  a  modern  commonplace  ;  we  find 
it,  for  example,  in  Herrick,  who  if  a  "pagan,"  as 
critics  will  call  him,  was  as  English  a  pagan  as  ever 
loved  beef  and  ale. 

To  conquer'd  men  some  comfort  'tis  to  fall 
By  th'  hand  of  him  who  is  the  generall.^ 

On  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  we  find  terrible 
disgrace  in  the  death  of  a  hero  or  warrior  by  the 
hand  of  woman.  This  is  the  very  climax  of  tragedy 
in  our  Nibelungen  Lay.  All  are  slain  save  the  arch- 
murderer,  Hagen,  and  the  arch-avenger,  Kriemhild, 
the  too  faithful  vassal  and  the  too  faithful  wife. 
Kriemhild  takes  her  dead  husband's  sword  and  kills 


THE   WARRIOR 


235 


with  it  the  murderer,  who  is  bound  and  helpless 
before  her ;  in  some  ways,  we  are  ready  to  concede,  a 
just  retribution.  But  the  sentiment  of  Kriemhild's 
own  living  husband  and  ally  in  vengeance  cannot 
applaud  the  act. 

"  Alas,"  bewailed  the  monarch,  "Alas,  and  now  is  slain, 
All  at  a  woman's  hands,  the  best  and  noblest  thane 
That  ever  led  in  battle  and  ever  lifted  spear ! 
And  though  he  was  my  foeman,  his  fall  shall  cost  me  dear." 

Out  spake  old  Hildebrand  :  "  No  comfort  shall  she  know 
Because  she  dared  to  slay  him  !  " 

And  the  gray-headed  warrior  springs  to  the  woman 
and  kills  her,  and  no  one  holds  him  back  or  blames 
him  for  his  deed. 

But  this  sense  of  fitness  and  unfitness,  the  consola- 
tions of  an  honorable  death  and  the  horrors  of  slaugh- 
ter at  unworthy  hands,  are  less  intense  than  the 
religious  and  fatalistic  sanctions.  It  is  instructive,  so 
far  as  fatalism  is  concerned  in  the  matter,  to  see  how 
the  opposite  notion  of  individual  freedom,  personal 
responsibility,  that  tendency  to  trust  in  one's  man- 
hood and  in  nothing  else,  keeps  alternating  in  Ger- 
manic hearts  with  the  sense  of  an  inevitable,  inexorable 
fate.  The  Germanic  creed  is  undoubtedly  expressed 
by  King  Gemot ;  ^  — 

Da  sterbent  wan  die  veigen,  — 
Only  the  doomed  ones  die,  — 

which  is  nothing  more  than  Hamlet's,  "  If  it  be  now, 
'tis  not  to  come ;  if  it  be  not  to  come,  it  will  be  now 
.  .  .  the  readiness  is  all."  2    But  the  impetuous  sense 


1  Avent.  XXXIII. 


1  «< 


Some  Comfort  in  Calamity.' 


1  JVT.  L.  149. 


2  Ham.  V.  2. 


I 


(I 


236 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


of  individual  manhood,  the  anticipation  (if  we  must 
find  a  modern  instance)  of  Fletcher's  nobler  astrology, 
—  "man  is  his  own  star,"  —  rebelled  against  this 
helpless  note  of  acquiescence,  and  tacked  a  fiery 
rider  to  the  wonted  phrase.  Fate,  says  Beowulf,  as 
he  tells  of  his  battle  with  the  sea-monsters,^  fate  often 
saves  a  man  if  he  have  plenty  of  courage. 

Oft  Wyrd  preserveth 
undoomed  earl,  —  if  he  doughty  be. 

The  same  idea  and  the  same  phrase,  with  very  slight 
change,  passed  into  the  Christian  poetry  of  our  ances- 
tors, and  have  since  become  a  commonplace.  In 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Andreas  we  read:^  — 

Therefore  sooth  will  I  say  to  you ;  — 
never  leaveth  the  living  God 
earl  to  his  doom,  if  he  doughty  he. 

"  Wyrd,"  the  fate-goddess,  has  been  changed  to  suit 
the  new  faith;  but  the  essentials  of  the  old  epic 
phrase  are  there.  In  one  passage  of  the  Beowulf  we 
have  a  characteristic^  blending  of  the  two  religions. 
Grendel  the  monster  would  have  devoured  many  more 
warriors  of  the  Danish  court,  — 

Had  not  wisest  God  their  AVyrd  averted, 
and  the  man's  bold  mood,  — 

that  is,  had  not  Beowulf  slain  the  demon.^    We  may 

1  B^oio.  572.  Fsdge  is  the  same  word  as  veigen  above,  like  Scotch  fey. 

2  459  ff . 

8  Characteristic,  because  the  Bdoioiilf  is  a  heathen  epic  put  together 
by  a  Christian  monk. 

*  B^ow.  1057  f.  The  idea  is  of  course  evident  enough ;  the  original 
sentiment,  however,  is  not  a  commonplace,  but  an  ethical  theory,  a 


THE  WARRIOR 


237 


add  one  example  from  Scandinavian  poetry.  In  the 
Skirnismdl^  where  Skirnir  is  to  ride  to  giant-land  and 
win  for  the  god  Freyr  that  maiden  Gerthr,  whose 
fair  white  arms  "shed  a  light  through  all  the  sky  and 
sea,"  Freyr  gives  to  the  messenger  both  steed  and 
sword :  "  a  horse  will  I  give  thee  that  shall  bear  thee 
through  the  murky  waver-flame,^  and  a  sword  which 
will  brandish  itself  and  fight^  if  he  is  brave  that  holds 
it''^  This  rises  quite  above  the  commonplace,  even 
of  the  old  epic ;  a  sword  of  self-respect  evidently, 
that  will  not  move  to  its  miraculous  calling,  if  it  be 
held  in  ignoble  hands.  What  were  thought  to  be 
noble  hands  in  such  a  case  would  be  easy  to  prove 
from  even  random  selections  of  Germanic  poetry^ 
Let  us  take  a  single  example.  It  is  that  fine  old 
Saxon  ballad  of  the  Fight  at  Maldon  where  "  Alder- 
man ■'  Byrhtnoth,  with  a  hastily  gathered  array  of 
the  local  militia,  opposes  a  party  of  Danish  pirates. 
These  offer  him  peace  in  return  for  tribute,  a  bargain 
too  often  struck  in  the  degenerate  days  of  ^thel- 
red.  But  the  Saxon  answer  has  a  ring  ancestral 
at  once  and  prophetic  of  the  later  English  hardihood. 

part  of  the  most  intimate  Germanic  life.  It  is  always  instructive  to  see 
these  epic  forms  and  phrases  passing  into  burlesque,  which  loves  to 
catch  popular  sentiment.  Thus  our  fine  old  personal  equation  of  the 
providence  of  Wyrd  finds  echo  in  Chaucer's  Sire  Thopas.  That  gallant 
knight  is  hard  put  to  it  in  combat  with  a  giant.  Sir  Olifaunt  by  name :  — 

Sir  Thopas  drough  on-bak  ful  faste; 
This  gcaunt  at  him  stoones  caste 

Out  of  a  fell  staf  slynge; 
But  faire  eschapeth  child  Thopas, 
And  al  it  was  thurgh  Goddis  gras^ 

And  thurgh  his  faire  herynge. 

1  The  girdle  of  fire  about  the  maiden's  hall. 

2  tSkirnismdl,  9,  in  Hildebrand's  Edda,  p.  54. 


238 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


Byrhtnoth  spake,  his  shield  uplifting, 

waving  light  spear,  with  words  replied, 

angry  and  resolute,  answered  back  :  — 

"  Hear'st  thou,  seaman,  what  say  this  folk  ? 

They  will  pay  you  tribute  in  trusty  spears, 

venoni'd  darts  and  dear-held  swords, 

war-gear  that  steads  you  the  worse  in  battle ! 

Herald  of  pirates,  hear  our  answer ! 

Say  to  thy  people  no  pleasant  message  :  — 

Here  stands,  not  unhonor'd,  an  earl  with  his  band, 

who  is  fain  to  defend  these  fields  ye  see, 

-^thelred's  land,  my  lord  and  master, 

the  folk  and  the  ground.  . 


'»  1 


The  fight  begins,  and  Byrhtnoth  struggles  gallantly, 
but  he  is  sorely  pressed  by  the  foeman  and  at  last 
wounded  with  a  spear.     He  — 

pushed  with  his  shield  that  the  shaft  broke  off, 

and  burst  the  spear  that  back  it  sprang ; 

fierce  grew  the  thane,  and  he  thrust  his  lance 

in  the  wicing  proud  who  had  wounded  him. 

Sage  was  the  chieftain,  sent  his  lance 

through  the  pirate's  neck  with  knowing  hand, 

till  he  reached  the  heart  of  the  heathen  foe. 

Straightway  a  second  spear  he  drove 

that  the  corselet  burst ;  the  breast  was  wounded 

through  ringe'd  mail,  in  the  midst  of  the  heart 

stood  the  poisoned  edge :  the  earl  was  blither, 

the  bold  one  laughed,  and  his  Lord  he  thanked 

for  this  good  day's  work  that  God  had  sent  him  .  ,  .2 

Then  he  is  himself  killed,  but  dies  fighting  to  the 
last,  shouting  courage  to  his  men,  and  with  a  song 
of  proud  thanksgiving  on  his  lips  :  — 

I  praise  and  thank  thee.  Prince  of  nations, 
for  all  my  delights  while  I  lived  on  earth,  — 


1  Maldon,  42  ff. 


2  136£f. 


iii<r'  ir  ti»r^,.mm 


f 


THE   WARRIOR 


239 


^i^ 


J 


and  expires  with  a  prayer  for  his  soul's  welfare.  So 
fought  and  so  died  a  true  Saxon,  true  to  the  spirit 
of  his  ancestors  who  nearly  a  thousand  years  before 
had  defied  the  legions.  For  Byrhtnoth,  with  his 
splendid  achievement,  stands  just  midway  between 
our  time  and  the  times  of  Caesar  and  Tacitus. 

If  such  was  the  Germanic  estimate  of  courage,  it  is 
easy  to  guess  what  would  be  for  them  the  vice  of 
vices  and  the  crime  of  crimes.  Disgrace  was  stamped 
indelibly  upon  the  man  who  left  his  shield  behind  him 
in  the  battle.  He  was  shut  out  from  tribal  worship, 
entered  no  fane,  took  part  in  no  council,  and  — if  this 
is  not  the  flourish  of  Tacitean  rhetoric  i— often  ended 
his  infamy  by  a  self-inflicted  and  ignominious  death. 
Direct  cowardice,  desertion,  and  similar  crimes  found 
no  mercy  whatever.2  Such  offenders,  where  treachery 
was  suspected,  were  promptly  hanged ;  while  the  mere 
coward  and  the  fugitive,  like  the  doer  of  nameless 
crimes,  were  sunk  wretchedly  in  a  swamp  with  a 
wicker-hurdle  pressed  over  them,  the  punishment  of 
women :  — 

Cowards  who  were  in  sloughs  interred  alive ; 
And  round  them  still  the  wattled  hurdles  hung 
Wherewith  they  stamped  them  down,  and  trod  them  deep, 
To  hide  their  shameful  memory  from  men.s 

Crimes,  says   Tacitus,  should  be  punished  openly:' 
but  scandals  stifled  in  darkness  and  silence.     Both 
of  these  modes  of  execution  survived  in  the  middle 
ages. 

We  have  mentioned  hanging  as  in  some  degree  a 
soldier's  death.      To  hang  a  convicted  man  to  the 

1  Genn.  VI.         2  Germ.  XII.         a  Matthew  Arnold,  Balder  Dead. 


/  / 


240 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


nearest  good  tree  was  the  sentence  of  the  Westpha- 
lian  Vehmgericht}  Our  old  friend  of  the  ballad, 
Johnie  Armstrong,  with  many  others  of  the  "most 
noble  thieves,"  —  that  is,  marauders  of  the  Scottish 
marches,  —  were  all,  by  the  king's  command,  "  hanged 
upon  growing  trees."  ^  These  were  gentlemen  born. 
The  punishment  of  the  gallows  was  widely  used  by 
our  earliest  ancestors,  and  finds  a  varied  expression 
in  the  older  literature,  —  chiefly  in  Scandinavian 
poetry.^  It  was  by  no  means  so  ignoble  an  exit  from 
life  as  it  is  now,  and  indicated  no  absolute  disgrace 
like  the  vile  indignities  of  the  hurdle  and  the  swamp. 
The  gallows  did  not  mutilate  a  body,  and  its  victim 
had  moreover  a  fine  chance  to  join  the  Wild  Hunts- 
man as  he  swept  by,  and  so  to  storm  the  heights  of 
heaven  and  Valhalla.^  Nay,  Odin  himself,  as  he 
tells  us  in  the  Hdvamdl^  ''hung  nine  nights  on  the 
windy  tree,"  that  is  upon  the  gallows ;  ^  and  whether 
or  not  this  be  a  Norse  version  of  the  Crucifixion,  the 
honorable  association  remains.  Oddly  enough,  some 
distorted  mediaeval  legend  proclaimed  that  Croesus  of 
old  ended  his  days  in  this  fashion,  as  had  been  fore- 
told him  in  a  dream ;  and  in  defence  of  popular  faith 
in  visions  he  is  cited  by  the  hero  of  the  Nonne  Prestes 
Tale  in  Chaucer .  ^  — 

Lo  Croesus,  which  that  was  of  Lydes  king, 
Mette  "^  he  nought  that  he  sat  upon  a  tre, 
Which  signified  he  schuld  hanged  be  ? 

1  See  a  popular  but  accurate  account  in  Vehmgerichte  und  Hexen- 
processe,  by  Dr.  Oskar  Wachter,  in  the  "  Collection  Spemann." 


2  See  Child's  Ballads,2  VI.  365. 


8  Grimm,  R.  A.  682  ff. 


' 


t 


THE   WARllIOR 


241 


*  Rochholz,  Deutscher  Glauhe  und  Branch,  I.  273. 

6  Bugge,  Studier,  292.  6  y.  318  ff.  ?  "  Dreamed." 


Since  hanging  had  these  associations,  ingenuity  was 
quickened  to  put  some  disgrace  into  the  fact ;  and  a 
fashion  often  employed  was  the  device  of  hanging 
wolves  or  dogs  along  with  the  culprit,  who  was  also 
placed  head  downwards,  —  one  of  the  numerous  com- 
pliments wliich  mediaBval  law  paid  to  the  Jews.^  Even 
under  the  more  ignoble  circumstances,  hanging  was 
a  pengjlty  reserved  for  males;  women  were  burnt, 
drowned,  or  stoned  to  death.  "Den  dieb  soil  man 
henken  und  die  hur  ertranken."  2  Later  it  was  the 
prerogative  of  nobles  to  be  beheaded,  while  common 
men  were  hanged ;  but  the  poet  of  Beowulf  seems  to 
indicate  that  if  the  old  king,  Hrethel,  had  punished 
Hsethcyn  in  the  way  of  blood-feud  for  the  innocent 
murder  of  the  elder  brother  Herebeald,  it  would  have 
been  by  the  gallows.  The  monarch  cannot  bring  him- 
self to  it :  — 

Grievous  it  is  for  the  gray-hair*d  man 
to  bide  the  sight  that  his  son  must  ride  » 
young  on  the  gallows.* 

We  may  conclude  that  a  gallows-destiny,  while  not 
yearned  for,  and  far  less  noble  than  death  by  sword 
or  spear,  did  not  acquire  its  peculiar  disgrace  until 
the  middle  ages.  In  the  time  of  Tacitus,  men 
who,  certainly  at  some  bodily  risk,  deserted  their 
own  cause  and  betrayed  it  to  the  enemy,^  were 
hanged  to  trees  —  probably,  says  Grimm,  dead  and 
leafless  trees.     The  victims  were  thus  a  sacrifice  to 

1  R.  A.  685.  2  Ibid.  687.  s  "  Ride  "  is  the  technical  term. 

*  B^otv.  2444.  In  the  Sacred  Grove  at  Upsala  in  Sweden,  says  Adam 
of  Bremen,  could  be  seen  many  corpses  of  men  and  beasts  hung  upon 
the  trees.  &  "  Proditores  et  transfugas." 


/ 


1 


u 


242 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


tribal  gods.  But  no  god  cared  for  the  coward  who 
fled  in  sheer  physical  terror,  nor  for  the  worker  of 
abominations  in  ordinary  life:  these  were  stamped 
and  buried  out  of  sight,  in  -slime  and  mud.i 

It  is  evident  that  cowardice  was  the  unpardonable 
Germanic  sin,  and  courage  the  cardinal  virtue  of  a 
Germanic  warrior.     Let  us  now  glance  at  these  war- 
riors in  their  array.     The  make-up  of  the  army  was 
not  very  intricate;    discipline,  system,  the  strategic 
conduct  of  a  campaign,  were  hardly  known  at  all. 
An  Arminius,  trained  as  he  was  to  Roman  discipline, 
might  for  a  while  animate  the  army  with  single  plan 
and  spirit;    but  he   could   not   organize   his   troops 
for  permanent  work  nor  establish  a  regular  system. 
Leadership  consisted  not  so  much  in  direction  and 
organization  as  in  example  of  valor.     The  individual 
warrior  was  the  one  supreme  element,  his  personal 
strength  and   his  courage;   and   he  was,  moreover, 
decidedly  better  than  his  weapons.     These  were  poor 
enough.     With  some  allowance  for  the  purpose  of 
the  speech,  the  description  given  by  Germanicus  in 
his  address  to  the  legions  2  furnishes  our  best  idea 
of  the  German  soldier  and  his  arms.     "  Not  only  the 
open  field,"  said  Germanicus,  "was  a  good  battle- 
ground for  the  Roman  soldier,  but  also,  if  one  acted 
in  a  rational  way,  the  forests  and  thickets.     For  the 
huge  shields  and  the  long  spears  of  the  barbarians 
could  not  be  managed  among  the  tree-trunks  and  low 
bushes  so  easily  as  the  javelin,  the  sword,  and  close- 
fitting  coverings.     The  main  thing  for  the  Romans 
was  to  rain  their  sword-strokes  upon  the  faces  of  the 

1  Kemble,  in  his  Salomon  and  Saturn,  p.  89,  gives  some  further  illus- 
trative passages.  2  xac.  Ann.  II.  14. 


THE   WARRIOR 


243 


enemy ;  the  Germans  had  neither  armor  nor  helmet ; 
not  even  their  shields  were  made  of  iron  or  leather, 
but  were  simply  a  sort  of  plaited  willow-work  with  thin 
painted  boards.    The  foremost  line  of  battle  might  be 
fairly  well  supplied  with  spears  ;  tlie  rest  had  darts, 
short,  or  else  with  points  hardened  in  the  fire."  ^    This 
is  not  a  very  good  showing  for  the  Germanic  ai'senal ; 
but  we  must  not  forget  the  occasion.     Moreover,  we 
have  the  testimony  of  the  graves  and  other  finds. 
If  the  bronze  age  is  reckoned  from  about  1500  to 
500  B.C.,  we  must   count  bronze   swords,  of  which 
Denmark's  soil  has  surrendered  such  numerous  and 
exquisite  specimens,  among  the  possible  acquisitions 
of  a  sturdy  German  warrior.^     Perhaps  such  are  the 
enta  geweorc,  the  work  of  giants,  of  which  we  hear  so 
often ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  think  that  these 
are  meant  when,  in  Saxon  or  Scandinavian  poetry, 
reference  is  made  to  the  "fallow"  sword.^      True, 
Germanicus  does  not  mention  the  sword  in  his  list  of 
the  barbarian  arms;  and  we  may  well  infer  that  it 
was  not  the  universal  weapon.     Metals  were  rare  in 
Germany ;    and  iron,  though  familiar,  does  not  seem 
to  have   been    mined   and    worked.*     Swords    were, 
nevertheless,  known  and  valued  by  the  Germans ;  and 
nothing  is  so  often  mentioned  in  their  traditions.     On 
the  column  of  Marcus  Aurelius  the  Germans  are  rep- 
resented with  short,  crooked  swords ;  and  swords  are 

1  The  account  of  Cimbrian  arms  given  by  Plutarch  speaks  of  swords, 
armor,  and  so  on,  but  they  are  evidently  booty  taken  from  the  enemy. 
What  forges  were  there  in  the  German  forests  to  turn  out  such  work  ? 

2  See  Montelius,  passim. 

8  See  Vigfusson-Powell  in  C.  P.  B.  11.  481. 

*  Germ.  VI. :  "  Ne  ferrum  qiddem  superest " ;  that  is,  not  even  iron 
abounds.    But  in  the  early  days  it  was  imported. 


244 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE  WARRIOR 


245 


mentioned  among  the  Germanic  tribes  which,  notably 
under    Ariovistus,   made   front    against    Ceesar.      A 
sword  was  undoubtedly  expensive  and  highly  valued ; 
for  as  late  as  the  sixth  century,  among  the  Franks, 
sword  and  scabbard  are  reckoned  at  the  worth  of 
seven  cows,  while  shield  and   lance    together  only 
equal  two  cows.^    The  antiquity  of  the  sword  as  Ger- 
manic weapon  can  be  inferred  from  another  consider- 
ation —  the  name  of  the  Saxons,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  derived  from  the  short  sword  or  seahs  (our  oldest 
English  form  of  the  word)  carried  by  warriors  of 
that  race.2     To  be  sure,  the  name  of  Saxons  is  not 
known  to  Strabo,  Pliny,  or  Tacitus,  and  is  first  men- 
tioned by  Ptolemy  in  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury as  belonging  to  a  small  tribe  on  the  Cimbrian 
peninsula.     For  all  that,  however,  the  name   is   far 
older   than    the   mention   of  it,   and   was    doubtless 
applied  to  themselves  by  all  the  minor  tribes  along  the 
Elbe  and  the  Weser.     By  the  fourth  century,  Saxons 
and  Franks  are  the  chief  Germanic  races.     Saxnot  is 
one  of  the  abjured  divinities  in  the  famous  renuncia- 
tion;  and  in  the  genealogy  of  the  kings  of  Essex, 
Saxn^at  is  the  son  of  Woden.     Saxons,  then,  must 
mean  "the   men  with   short  swords,"  and   Saxn^at 
"the   sword-companion."     Grimm   quotes    the   well- 
known  account  of  Nennius,^  where  Hengist  tells  his 
men:  "When  I  cry  out  to  you  and  say  'en  Saxones, 
nimith  eure  Saxas,'  *  seize  your  knives  and  rush  upon 

1  Arnold,  Deutsche  Urzeit,  p.  279. 

2  Zeuss  and  Grimm  uphold,  Kemble  opposes,  the  etymology.  See 
Kemble's  Saxons,  I.  41;  Grimm,  G.  Z>.6'.424;  Mullenhoff  inHanpVs 
ZtsU,  Anzeiger,  VII.  (1881)  p.  213.  According  to  Mullenhoff,  sax  is 
neuter,  and  means  an  instrument  for  cutting. 

«  Hist.  Brit.  Cap.  46.  *  That  is,  "  Saxons,  take  your  swords." 


the  foe."  Continental  Saxons  of  a  later  date  were 
wont  to  bring  their  knives  when  they  came  to  court, 
and  thrust  them  in  the  ground  as  they  declared  them- 
selves guilty  or  innocent  of  a  given  charge ;  ^  and 
this,  Jacob  Grimm  thinks,  is  a  survival  of  the  Ger- 
manic habit  of  going  armed  to  all  popular  assemblies. 
Other  names  that  may  be  connected  with  the  sword 
are  the  Cherusci,^  the  clan  of  Arminius,  and  the  tribe 
which  our  Widsith  calls  the  "Swordsmen";  for  per- 
sonal names  a  good  example  is  the  father  of  Beowulf, 
Ecgtheow,  —  that  is,  "  Sword-servant." 

Short  swords  of  this  pattern  were  carried  by  the 
Rugii,  as  Tacitus  especially  notes.^  But  the  Cim- 
brians  in  Italy  had  longer  swords  ;  and  the  description 
of  their  weapons  by  Plutarch  points,  as  was  hinted 
above,  at  a  long  career  of  plunder  on  the  part  of 
these  invaders  who  had  made  their  way  through 
Gaul,  and  had  met  repeatedly  troops  of  good  equip- 
ment. Plutarch  describes  their  cavalry  as  furnished 
with  "breastplates  of  iron  and  white  glittering 
shields ;  and  for  their  offensive  arms  every  one  had 
two  darts,  and  when  they  came  hand  to  hand,  they 
used  Jarge  and  heavy  swords."  ^  Kemble  ^  speaks 
of  the  "long,  heavy  Celtic  or  German  sword,"  as 
contrasted  with  the  short  weapon  of  the  Roman. 
These  long  swords  were  often  two-edged,  —  and  are 
found  in  German  graves.^  In  the  Waltharius  Lay, 
the  hero  carries  two  swords,  one  short  and  with 
single  edge,  on  his  right  side,  the  other  long  and 

1  R.  A.  772.         2  Grimm,  G.  D.  S.  426.  s  Germ.  XLIV. 

*  Plutarch,  Marius,  Dryden-Clough  translation. 
6  Horse  Ferales,  p.  63. 

*  Holtzmann,  Germanische  Alterthumerf  141  f. 


246 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


double-edged,  on  his  left.    It  is  often  assumed  that  all 
these  swords  were  of  iron ;  but  Grimm  in  his  list  of 
weapon-names  ^  says  under  seax  "  urspriinglich  wohl 
eine   steinwaffe,"  and   Baumstark^  reminds   us   not 
only  of  the  stone  swords  found  along  the  Baltic,  but 
also  of  the  great  number  of  swords  made  from  bronze. 
Swords  found   in   those    German  graves  which  are 
known  to  belong  to  the  period  of  tribal  movement 
are  mostly  of  iron ;  by  that  time  the  iron  sword  and 
(among  the  Franks  of  the  sixth  century)  the  battle- 
axe  were  chief  weapons  of  the  German  foot-soldier. 
When  Tacitus  says  that  "  few  Germans  use  swords,"  ^ 
^    he  is  stating  for  the  first  century  what  still  held  true, 
to  a  large  degree,  in  the  ninth  or  tenth.     In  Cnut's 
time  shield  and  spear,  bow  and  arrow,  were  weapons 
for  the  rank  and  file;   and  a  sword  is  in  our  own 
day  mark  of  the   officer  as  distinguished  from  the 
common  soldier.     Anglo-Saxon  law  made  a  "  ceorl " 
"si«cund,"   that   is,  raised  his   rank,  when   he  had 
helmet,   coat-of-mail,   and  gilded  sword,  no   matter 
whether  he  owned  land  or  not.*     The  importance  of 
the  sword  is  proved  not  only  by  the  traditions  and 
•  survivals  to  which  we  have  alluded,  but  by  th*  num- 
ber of  names  for  it  in  literal   statement;^  by  the 
poetical  names  or  kennings  for  it,  like  the  Norse  gun- 
nlogi,  or  battle-flame,  and  the  corresponding  Anglo- 
Saxon  headolSoma ;  ^  by  the  personifications  of  it  and 
name-giving,  like  Nsegling  and  Hrunting,  where  we 
note  the  humanizing  force  of  the  suffix ;  and  finally 

1  Deutsche  Grammatik,  III.  440.       2  Germ.  p.  308  f.        «  Germ.  VI. 
*  Cf.  Schmid,  Einl.  LXVI.,  and  Lehmann,  Waff  en  im  B^ow.  "Ger- 
mania,"  31.  486  ff.  5  Grimm,  Grammatik ^  III.  440,  gives  a  list. 

®  See  Bode,  Kenningar,  p.  55  f. 


THE  WARRIOR 


247 


by  the  actual  woi-ship  of  it.  How  our  forefathers 
would  have  felt  the  force  of  the  dialogue  in  the  fine 
Danish  ballad  Hcevnersvcerdet,^  where  the  hero  takes 
counsel  with  his  sword,  or  where  by  naming  its  name 
he  restrains  its  thirst  for  blood !  ^  Sometimes  we 
find  a  sort  of  pact  or  league  between  warrior  and 
sword,  and  when  both  keep  the  promise  there  is  great 
glory  won.  So  of  the  hero  and  his  good  brand  in 
BSowulf:^  — 

Neither  melted  his  courage,  nor  his  kinsman's  bequest 
weakened  in  warfare.  .  .  . 

When  a  sword  is  about  to  kill  some  one,  it  gives 
forth  a  noise ;  *  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Finnshurg  frag- 
ment, besides  the  usual  battle-omens  of  screaming 
birds,  the  coat-of-mail  "  yells "  or  clangs,  the  war- 
wood  (spear)  dins,  and  "shield  answers  shaft." ^ 
When  Beowulf  is  going  to  seek  and  slay  the  monster 
mother  of  Grendel  in  her  own  ocean  fastness,  he 
borrows  a  sword;  its  name,  the  poet  tells  us,  is 
Hrunting,  and  it  is  the  noblest  of  ancient  treasures, 
an  heirloom ;  its  edg^  is  iron,  stained  with  poison- 
drops  and  hardened  with  blood  of  battle ;  in  fight  it 
never  yet  had  played  false  to  the  man  who  brandished 
it,  whenever  he  dared  the  ways  of  warfare,  the  meet- 
ing-pla:ce  of  foes ;  this  was  not  the  first  time  that  it 
was  fated  to  do  brave  deeds.  Noting,  now,  this  seem- 
ing independence  and  individuality,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised at  the  expression  which  the  poet  uses  when 


1  Grundtvig,  Danmarks  Gamle  Folkeviser,  I.  350,  stanzas  16  ff.,  35. 

2  See  also  Child.  Ballads,2  I.  96.  »  2628  f. 

*  Maurer,  Bekehrung  d.  norweg.  Stamme,  II.  123.        ^  Finns.  5  ff. 


i1 


246 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


double-edged,  on  his  left.  It  is  often  assumed  that  all 
these  swords  were  of  iron ;  but  Grimm  in  his  list  of 
weapon-names  ^  says  under  seax  "  urspriinglich  wohl 
eine  steinwaffe,"  and  Baumstark^  reminds  us  not 
only  of  the  stone  swords  found  along  the  Baltic,  but 
also  of  the  great  number  of  swords  made  from  bronze. 
Swords  found  in  those  German  graves  which  are 
known  to  belong  to  the  period  of  tribal  movement 
are  mostly  of  iron ;  by  that  time  the  iron  sword  and 
(among  the  Franks  of  the  sixth  century)  the  battle- 
axe  were  chief  weapons  of  the  German  foot-soldier. 
When  Tacitus  says  that  "  few  Germans  use  swords,"  ^ 
^  he  is  stating  for  the  first  century  what  still  held  true, 
to  a  large  degree,  in  the  ninth  or  tenth.  In  Cnut's 
time  shield  and  spear,  bow  and  arrow,  were  weapons 
for  the  rank  and  file;  and  a  sword  is  in  our  own 
day  mark  of  the  officer  as  distinguished  from  the 
common  soldier.  Anglo-Saxon  law  made  a  "  ceorl " 
"sit$cund,"  that  is,  raised  his  rank,  when  he  had 
helmet,  coat-of-mail,  and  gilded  sword,  no  matter 
whether  he  owned  land  or  not.*  The  importance  of 
the  sword  is  proved  not  only  by  the  traditions  and 
•  survivals  to  which  we  have  alluded,  but  by  thainum- 
ber  of  names  for  it  in  literal  statement;^  by  the 
poetical  names  or  kennings  for  it,  like  the  Norse  ^un- 
nlogi^  or  battle-flame,  and  the  corresponding  Anglo- 
Saxon  headolSoma  ;  ^  by  the  personifications  of  it  and 
name-giving,  like  Nsegling  and  Hrunting,  where  we 
note  the  humanizing  force  of  the  suffix ;  and  finally 

1  Deutsche  Grammatik,  III.  440.      2  Qerm.  p.  308  f.        »  Germ.  VI. 
*  Cf.  Schmid,  Einl  LXVI.,  and  I^hmann,  Waffen  im  B^ow.  "Ger- 
mania,"  31.  486  ff.  5  Grimm,  Grammatik,  III.  440,  gives  a  list. 

6  See  Bode,  Kenningar,  p.  65  f. 


THE  WARRIOR 


247 


by  the  actual  woi-ship  of  it.  How  our  forefathers 
would  have  felt  the  force  of  the  dialogue  in  the  fine 
Danish  ballad  Hcevnersvcerdet,^  where  the  hero  takes 
counsel  with  his  sword,  or  where  by  naming  its  name 
he  restrains  its  thirst  for  blood!  2  Sometimes  we 
find  a  sort  of  pact  or  league  between  warrior  and 
sword,  and  when  both  keep  the  promise  there  is  great 
glory  won.  So  of  the  hero  and  his  good  brand  in 
Beowulf:^  — 

Neither  melted  his  courage,  nor  his  kinsman's  bequest 
weakened  in  warfare.  .  .  . 


When  a  sword  is  about  to  kill  some  one,  it  gives 
forth  a  noise ;  *  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Finnshurg  frag- 
ment, besides  the  usual  battle-omens  of  screaming 
birds,  the  coat-of-mail  "yells"  or  clangs,  the  war- 
wood  (spear)  dins,  and  "shield  answers  shaft." ^ 
When  Beowulf  is  going  to  seek  and  slay  the  monster 
mother  of  Grendel  in  her  own  ocean  fastness,  he 
borrows  a  sword;  its  name,  the  poet  tells  us,  is 
Hrunting,  and  it  is  the  noblest  of  ancient  treasures, 
an  heirloom;  its  edge  is  iron,  stained  with  poison- 
drops  and  hardened  with  blood  of  battle ;  in  fight  it 
never  yet  had  played  false  to  the  man  who  brandished 
it,  whenever  he  dared  the  ways  of  warfare,  the  meet- 
ing-pld:ce  of  foes ;  this  was  not  the  first  time  that  it 
was  fated  to  do  brave  deeds.  Noting,  now,  this  seem- 
ing independence  and  individuality,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised at  the  expression  which  the  poet  uses  when 

1  Grundtvig,  Danmarks  Gamle  Folkeviser,  I.  350,  stanzas  16  ff.,  35. 

2  See  also  Child,  Ballads,2  I.  96.  a  2628  f. 

^  Maurer,  Bekehrung  d.  norweg.  Stdmme,  II.  123.        8  Finns.  5  ff. 


248 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


he  records  a  failure  in  the  fight  with  the  monster. 
Beowulf  then  found  — 

that  the  Light-of-Battle  was  loath  to  bite,  — 

and  so  it  failed  to  work  his  will  upon  the  foe.  As  for 
the  speaking  of  swords,  their  word  and  wish,  we  are 
reminded  of  Wordsworth's  personification ;  for,  as  Mr. 
E.  B.  Tylor  has  somewhere  remarked,  Wordsworth's 
power  in  this  respect  almost  seems  to  revive  the  force 
of  old  mythology :  — 

Armor  rusting  in  his  Halls 

On  the  blood  of  Clifford  calls ; 

"  Quell  the  Scot,"  exclaims  the  Lance  ; 

"  Bear  me  to  the  heart  of  France,"  — 

Is  the  longing  of  the  Shield.^ 

Swords  are  full  of  supernatural  traits,  and  often 
give  out  a  magic  light ;  one  "  conquering  blade,"  an 
"  old  sword  of  giants,"  sheds  such  radiance,  — 

Even  as  from  skies  above  shines  and  glitters 
heaven's  candle,  .  .  .2 

and  thus  illuminates  the  uncanny  hall  of  the  monsters 
with  a  light  that  reaches  from  the  depths  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea.3  A  host  of  legends,  gathered  in 
recent  times,  but  rooted  in  our  oldest  heathen  super- 
stitions, tell  of  charmed  weapons  which  are  now  car- 
ried by  the  living,  and  now  buried  with  the  dead,  but 
are  always  endowed  with  miraculous  power,  often 
gleaming  far  off  through  the  night. 

His  sword  well  burnisht,  shineth  yet, 
And  over  the  barrow  beam  the  hilts.* 

1  Song  at  the  Feast  of  Brougham  Castle. 

2  Beow.  1558  ff.    "  Heaven's  candle  "  is,  of  course,  the  sun. 

8  See  Heyne's  Halle  Heorot,  p.  46,  note  *.  ^  See  p.  312,  below. 


THE   WARRIOR 


249 


To  swear  by  one's  sword  —  coming  to  the  last  cate- 
gory —  was  common  down  to  modern  times,  not  sim- 
ply as  some  commentators  on  Hamlet  assert,  because 
the  hilt  formed  a  cross,  but  for  traditional  reasons. 
Indeed,  we  have  evidence  that  the  sword  was  wor- 
shipped. The  princes  of  the  Quadi,  making  submis- 
sion A.D.  358  to  an  imperial  army,  draw  their  swords, 
"  which  they  worship  as  deities,"  and  swear  to  keep 
faith.  So  writes  Ammianus  Marcellinus ;  ^  and  in 
another  place,  after  an  elaborate  description  of  the 
Alani,  a  Scythian  tribe,  he  says  that  their  only  notion 
of  religious  ceremonies  is  to  thrust  a  sword  into  the 
ground  and  worship  it  "  as  Mars,"  —  this,  of  course, 
simply  an  inter pretatio  Homana? 

It  was  the  fashion  to  write  runes  on  the  sword. 
Often,  as  on  the  spearhead  of  Kovel  described  by 
Wimmer,^  the  owner's  name  was  graven  upon  the 
blade.  The  spearhead  in  question  is  probably  from 
the  fourth  century,*  and  bears  the  Gothic  name 
Tilari'^s^  or  "bold  rider."  But  incantations  and  spells, 
taking  the  place  of  our  modern  mottoes,  were  fre- 
quently carved;  and  these  mysterious  runes  could 
be  of  good  or  of  evil  omen.  When  Freyr's  zealous 
henchman  is  wooing  Gerthr  for  his  master,  and  the 
maiden  refuses  his  gold,  he  begins  to  threaten  her: 
"  Look  on  this  blade,  maid,  slender,  marked  with  char- 
acters, that  I  hold  in  my  hand ;  I  will  hew  off  thy 
head.  .  .  ."  ^  Then  he  goes  on  to  praise  the  terrible 
potency  of  the  weapon,  due  in  part  to  the  mysterious 
working  of  the  runes.     In  like  manner,  a  sword  could 

1  Bk.  17,  Chap.  XII.  2  Bk.  31,  Chap.  II. 

8  Die  Runenschrift,  p.  57.  *  Ibid.  p.  71. 

6  Vigfusson-Powell's  transl.  in  C.  P.  B.  1. 114. 


^  1 


;! 


250 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


be  made  useless  by  incantations,  and  Saxo  tells  of  a 
certain  Gunholm,  who  was  wont  to  dull  and  lame 
(obtundere)  the  hostile  blade  by  his  runic  charms 
(^carminihus).  In  Salomon  and  jSaturn^  wq  are  told 
that  evil  spirits 

write  on  his  weapon  woe-marks  an  heap, 
baleful  bookstaves ;  2  the  bills  they  bewitch, 
the  pride  of  the  sword. 

Against  this  evil,  one's  remedy  consisted  in  singing  a 
pater-noster  as  one  drew  the  sword  out  of  its  scabbard, 
and  the  blade  was  then  fit  to  do  its  work.  Of  course 
this  pater-noster  takes  the  place  of  some  ancient  and 
heathen  "  backward  mutter  of  dissevering  power." 

Scarcity  of  iron  made  a  relative  scarcity  not  only 
of  swords,  but  also  of  the  longer  lances,  those  "  huge 
spears"  mentioned  several  times  by  Tacitus.  The 
common  weapons  of  a  German  warrior  were  the  fra- 
mea  for  attack  and  the  shield  for  defence;  in  the 
public  assemblies  assent  was  shown  by  clashing  these 
weapons  together.  Concerning  the  nature  of  the  fra- 
mea,  much  has  been  said  ;  and  a  close  investigation  by 
Miillenhoff,^  based  mainly  on  philological  data,  con- 
cludes that  although  later  Christian  literature  uses 
framea  for  sword  {gladius),^  nevertheless  we  are  to 
hold  to  Tacitus,  who  distinctly  says  it  is  a  small 
lance  or  spear  Qiasta)  with  short  and  scanty  iron. 

1  Ed.  Kemble,  p.  144  f.         2  Buchstaben,  letters.         8  Sword,  blade. 

*  In  his  far  too  sharp  and  contemptuous  review  of  Lindenschmidt's 
Handhuch  d.  detitschen  Alter thumskunde,  "Haunt's  Ztst."  Anzeiffer 
VII.  209-229.  ^    ' 

s  Mullenhoff  notes  that  Juvenal  uses  framea  for  the  lance  of  Mars, 
and  Gellius  names  frames^  as  missiles. 


THE   WARRIOR 


251 


As  for  the  word,  it  must  be  Germanic ;  in  Miillen- 
hoff 's  opinion  it  is  a  derivative  of  /ram,  and  means 
"  toward  the  front,"  -—  a  projectile  for  close  quarters 
or  long  range,  precisely  as  Tacitus  describes  it.  Jahns 
thinks  that  the  so-called  "  celts  "  of  stone  or  bronze, 
found  so  plentifully  in  ethnological  museums,  were 
fastened  on  a  straight  shaft  and  so  formed  the  fra- 
meay  In  later  times,  and  with  the  greater  abundance 
of  iron,  the  better  wrought  ger,  Anglo-Saxon  gdr,  or 
spear,  took  the  place  of  the  missile,  which  thence- 
forth disappears  from  history.  This  change  increased 
the  efficiency  of  Germanic  soldiers,  precisely  as  in  the 
case  of  the  African  chief  mentioned  above,^  who  con- 
verted the  missile  lance  into  a  long,  stout  spear  meant 
for  thrusting  alone. 

The  shields  of  German  soldiers  were  not  elaborate. 
Otherwise  they  had  little  armor,  if  we  except  certain 
leather  or  possibly  iron  helmets  used  by  eastern 
tribes.3  Holtzmann  is  rash  when  he  says  they  went 
without  armor,  not  only  because  they  had  no  iron, 
but  "because  they  loved  defiance  and  gladly  sought 
scars,"  — an  argument  that  appeals,  perhaps,  to  a 
German  student,  but  hardly  covere  the  ground.  The 
huge  shield  left  them  in  a  measure  independent  of 
other  armor ;  and  indeed  we  find  them  scarcely  clad 
at  all,  fighting  naked  to  the  waist,  like  the  older 
Gauls.  We  are  told  that  the  German  cohorts  in  the 
army  of  Vitellius  fought  "  with  bodies  naked,  after 
the  fashion  of  their  country."  In  this  guise  appear 
the  barbarian  figures  on  Trajan's  column ;  and  Cgesar 
so  describes  the  warriors  of  Ariovistus.*    Paul  the 


1  See  Schultz,  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2.  201. 
«  Baumstark,  Germ.  p.  328. 


2  See  p.  209. 

^  Cass.  Dio,  38.  45. 


252 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


Deacon  testifies  of  the  Heruli,  that  they  fought  naked 
save  for  a  cloth  about  the  loins.  Who  does  not 
remember  that  picture  in  Plutarch's  Marius,  where 
the  barbarians  in  sheer  defiance  let  the  snow  fall  upon 
their  naked  bodies,  and  setting  themselves  on  their 
broad  shields  go  sliding  down  the  Alps?  These 
immense  shields  covered  a  great  portion  of  the  body ; 
Waitz  says,  all  of  it.^  They  were  flat,  made  of  wood 
or  wicker-work,  had  often  a  metal  boss,  and  were  fre- 
quently colored.  Like  "ash"  as  name  for  spear, 
"linden"  or  the  like  is  often  used  for  shield,  —  the 
material  for  the  weapon  itself.  Naturally,  such 
shields  cost  but  little,  and  were  subject  to  very  rough 
usage  in  battle.  At  the  end  of  the  fragmentary  Hilde- 
brand  Lay,  we  read  of  flying  splinters  from  the  rapid 
sword-strokes  of  the  combatants ;  and  elsewhere  we 
are  told  of  a  shieldbearer  who  in  the  heat  of  battle 
reaches  a  fresh  shield  to  his  warrior.  With  regard  to 
the  color,  white  shields,  as  in  the  case  of  Hildebrand 
and  Hathubrand,  as  well  of  the  Cimbrians  in  Italy, 
are  often  mentioned.  The  shields  of  the  Harii  ^  were 
black ;  those  of  the  old  Frisians  were  brown  or 
white  ;  the  Saxons  preferred  red.  For  the  Franks  in 
the  fifth  century,  Sidonius  Apollinaris  describes  the 
shields  as  snow-white  in  the  circle,  tawny  in  the 
boss.^  Holtzmann  thinks  these  colors  were  a  rude 
heraldry,  a  means  of  distinguishing  tribe  from  tribe, 
and  even  clans  and  families.  Perhaps  a  symbol 
of  some  sort  was  painted  on  the  shields.  The  Cim- 
brians wore  forms  of  animals  on  their  helmets,  like 


1  Verfassungsges.  1. 44.  ^  Germ.  XLIII. 

8  **  Lux  in  orbibus  nivea,  fulva  in  umbonibus."     See  Weinhold, 
Altnord.  Leben,  207. 


THE  WARRIOR 


253 


the  carven  boar  of  Anglo-Saxon  times ;  ^  and  we  hear 
in  other  places  of  the  "emblems"  of  the  Germanic 

shield. 

How  useful  the  shield  was  —  and  became  —  can  be 
seen  from  the  "  board-wall "  (hordwealV)  or  wall  of 
shields  2  which  Anglo-Saxon  warriors  made,  and 
which  would  have  held  the  field  at  Senlac  if  Harold's 
orders  had  been  carried  out,^  and  his  men  had  kept 
their  ranks.  So  in  the  ballad  of  Maldon  we  have 
allusion  to  this  shield-wall ;  and  the  poem  gives  us  a 
spirited  picture  of  the  doughty  "  Alderman  "  arranging 
the  line  of  battle  and  exhorting  his  warriors  to  play 
their  parts  like  men.  In  The  Battle  of  Brunan- 
hurh,^  another  ballad  of  Anglo-Saxon  heroism,  we 
hear  the  cry  of  delight  that  warriors  have  hewn 
their  way  through  this  shield-wall ;  for  "  cleaving  the 
shield-hedge  "  was  as  much  as  routing  the  enemy. 

Armor,  except  of  the  rudest  kind,  was  introduced 
among  Germanic  tribes  during  the  great  migration. 
In  BSowulf  there  is  frequent  mention  of  the  coat- 
of-mail  and  the  "  ring-net,"  —  the  latter  a  corselet 
woven  out  of  small  rings,  —  as  well  as  of  the  boar- 
guarded  helmet.  We  remember,  too,^  that  Beowulf 
expressed  solicitude  about  his  noblest  war-weed, 
warding  the  breast,  and  desired  that  in  the  event  of 
his  death,  this  "  work  of  Wayland"  should  be  sent 

home. 

Other  weapons  were  doubtless  familiar  to  the  Ger- 

1  Seen  also  on  Scandinavian  helmets.  See  Montelius,  work  quoted, 
p.  162.  For  painted  shields  among  the  old  Norsemen,  see  Weinhold, 
Altnord.  Leben,  p.  428. 

2  Also  called  the  shield-hedge,  bordhaga. 

8  See  Mr.  Freeman's  fine  description,  Norman  Conquest,  III.2  408  flf. 
4  V.  5  f.  ^  See  p.  Ill,  above. 


/ 


\  '<»W 


"IMmpi 


A 


/ 


!  ;i 


b 


254 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


man.  The  hammer,  weapon  of  old  Thor,  must  have 
had  its  warlike  as  well  as  peaceful  functions ;  ^  the 
battle-axe,  which  made  the  later  Franks  such  a 
dreaded  foe,  found  some  use  among  their  ancestors.  The 
silence  of  Tacitus  in  regard  to  these  weapons,  just  as 
with  the  bow  and  arrow,  is  not  proof  that  the  Germans 
did  not  have  them ;  indeed,  bows  and  arrows  are 
mentioned  by  the  Grermania^  as  in  use  among  the 
Finns.  Gothic  archers  were  afterwards  in  high 
repute;  bows  are  mentioned  at  Maldon;  at  Senlac, 
among  the  English,  bows  and  arrows  were  ex- 
ceptional.^ 

Infantry,  if  we  may  use  so  technical  a  term,  was 
the  favorite  Germanic  array  of  battle  ;  but  cavalry 
was  also  known,  and  in  the  earliest  times.  Csesar 
testifies  to  the  tactics  of  the  German  horsemen.  In 
the  Commentaries  we  are  told  that  before  a  general 
engagement,  the  cavalry  of  Ariovistus  made  constant 
attacks  upon  the  Roman  encampment,  after  this 
fashion:  Six  thousand  horsemen  were  accompanied 
by  as  many  warriors  on  foot,  picked  men,  who  formed 
a  support  and  rallying-point  whenever  the  cavalry 
retreated.  When  it  was  necessary  to  dash  swiftly 
forward  in  long  attack,  or  fall  back  rapidly  to  the 
rear,  the  foot-soldiers  kept  pace  with  the  cavalry, 
holding  often  to  the  manes  of  the  horses.*  In  another 
place,  speaking  of  the  Suevians,  Caesar  mentions  the 
poor  breed  but  toughness  and  exact  training  of  the 
horses,  which,  when  the  rider  dismounted  to  fight  on 
foot,  were  sure  to  stand  on  the  same  spot  till  needed. 


1  Grimm,  D.  MA  p.  151 ;  i?.  ^.  p.  64 ;  Schultz,  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2. 


201. 


2  Cap.  XLVI. 


3  Norman  Conquest,  III.  472. 


*  B.  G.  I.  48. 


THE  WARRIOR 


255 


Moreover,  it  was  deemed  disgraceful  to  use  the 
saddle.^  Tacitus  tells  about  horses  and  men  much 
the  same  story  as  Csesar  gives  us,  though  the  great 
general  is  far  more  clear  and  definite.^  Some  tribes 
must  have  leaned  more  to  cavalry  combats, — we 
may  instance  the  Tencteri  and  the  Batavians  ;  but 
in  general,  and  this  is  the  statement  of  Tacitus,  the 
chief  reliance  of  the  German  was  upon  his  foot- 
soldiers,  a  taste  that  prevailed  down  to  the  middle 
ages.  It  is  curious  to  find  English  warriors,  in  the 
time  of  King  ^thelred,  riding  up  to  the  fight  at 
Maldon,  dismounting,  and  driving  their  horses  off 
the  field :  — 

he  8  bade  each  soldier  forsake  his  horse, 

drive  it  afar,  and  fare  along, 

have  mind  on  his  hands  and  a  manful  battle !  * 

At  the  same  fight,  another  warrior  — 

let  from  his  hands  his  hawk  so  lief 

fly  to  the  forest,  and  fight-ward  strode.^ 

So,  at  Senlac,  every  man  in  the  Saxon  army  fought 
on  foot :  — 

Omnes  descendunt  et  equos  post  terga  relmqtrint.^ 

Ammianus  Marcellinus  gives  us  a  much  older  instance, 
with  an  exquisite  reason.     The  Alamannian  infantry, 

1 IV.  2. 

2  Germ.  VI.  This  mode  of  fighting  with  horse  and  foot  mixed  together 
is  not  peculiar  to  the  Germans.  For  other  examples  see  Hehn,  work 
quoted,  45-47.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  German  auxiliaries  serving  in  the 
Roman  army  are  at  first  mostly  mounted  men,  and  once  Caesar  actually 
took  horses  from  Roman  soldiers  and  gave  the  mount  to  Germans. 

3  Byrhtnoth.  *  Maldon,  2  ff .  6  Ibid.  7  f . 
c  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  III.  472. 


/, 


// 


I 


256 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


about  to  begin  battle,  make  a  great  outcry  because 
the  princes  do  not  descend  from  their  steeds ;  for  if 
the  battle  were  lost,  these  gentry  might  ride  off  and 
leave  their  humbler  brethren  in  the  lurch.^ 

Regarding  the  army  as  a  whole,  we  find  that  it 
moved  to  attack  —  a  supremely  important  moment  ^  — 
in  the  shape  of  a  wedge;  the  Frankish  historian, 
Richer,  says  that  as  late  as  the  ninth  century  this 
wedge-shaped  column  was  still  the  order  of  battle 
among  his  countrymen.  Strange,  moreover,  is  the 
statement  of  Saxo  Grammaticus  that  Odin^  taught 
Hadingus  to  form  his  army  in  such  fashion  that  two 
should  stand  in  the  first  row,  four  in  the  second, 
eight  in  the  third,  and  so  on;  while  on  the  side 
should  stand  (a  foreign  touch?)  the  archers  and 
slingers.  This  formation  Scandinavians  called  the 
hoar's  head.  The  same  thing  and  the  same  name 
appear  in  the  laws  of  Manu,  and  were  not  unknown 
to  the  Greeks.  Scherer  hence  concludes  an  Indo- 
European  origin.*  Holtzmann,  relying  on  another 
place  in  Tacitus,  where  we  are  told  that  the  Germans 
fought  in  loose  order,  and  were  arranged  by  families, 
essays  the  parlous  etymology  that  euneus  (wedge)  is 

1  Amm.  Mar.  XVI.  12.  34. 

2  Religious  rites,  revel,  and  feasting  often  marked  the  whole  night 
before  a  battle  {Ann.  I.  65 ;  II.  12 ;  Hist.  IV.  14 ;  V.  15) ;  after  favorable 
auguries,  and  with  high  pomp  and  ceremony,  the  tribe  went  into  the 
fight.  Says  Miillenhoff  in  his  essay  de  antiq.  Ger.  poesi,  p.  13,  "  Nulla 
enim  erat  major  neque  sanctior  apud  Germanos  pompa,  quam  ubi  ordi- 
nata  acie  uni versus  populus  ad  proelium  ibat." 

8  MullenhofE  shows  that  this  is  important  for  Odin  worship.  He  was 
held  as  "auctor  aciei  corniculatse  et  ordinandi  agminis  disciplinse 
omnisque  denique  bellicae  artis  ac  scientiae  traditor  {i.e.  magister)  ac 
repertor  et  animi  bellici  creator  moderatorque  sapientissimus  esse  cred- 
ebatur."    Miillenhoff,  de  Chor.  p.  15. 

4  HaupVs  Zeit.,  Anzeiger,  IV.  97. 


THE   WARRIOR 


257 


Roman  misunderstanding  of  kuni^  "kin,"  family  or 
tribe.  Probably  the  Germans  dashed  into  battle  as 
a  wild,  surging  mass  (yagis  incur sihus)^^  but  with 
coherence  and  order  according  to  families,  and  with 
the  general  shape  of  a  wedge.  A  few  men  of  valor 
in  the  van,  the  vast  mob  of  ordinary  warriors  would 
naturally  spread  out  behind  the  leaders. 

Leaders  we  call  them,  for  generals,  in  our  sense  of 
the  word,  hardly  existed;  though  there  was  doubt- 
less a  rude  system  by  which  a  number  of  officers  were 
graded  up  to  a  supreme  commander.  Tacitus  tells 
us  2  that  the  duty  of  such  a  leader  was  to  set  example 
rather  than  to  issue  commands.  We  may  assume  that 
high  rank  was  helpful  to  his  authority,  and  that  elec- 
tion was  necessary.  Such  an  election  of  a  general  is 
mentioned  by  Tacitus,^  who  says  that  the  Cannine- 
fates,  a  Low  German  tribe,  chose  for  their  leader  a 
man  named  Brinno,  who  was  thereupon  raised  upon 
a  shield,  after  the  ancestral  custom,  and  so  rocked 
about  (yihratus)  upon  the  shoulders  of  those  who  car- 
ried him.  It  is  probable  that  this  sort  of  leader  was 
elected  for  a  considerable  period,*  that  he  carried  spe- 
cial weapons  and  adornments,  and  that  he  had,  in 
common  with  the  method  of  his  election,^  much  of 
the  authority  of  a  king.  Like  a  king  he  received 
gifts  .^  We  are  at  some  loss  to  set  forth  the  true 
functions  of  a  German  leader,  especially  of  the  first 
in  command.  We  may  gather  from  Tacitus  that  he 
did  not  plan  campaigns  or  direct  tactics  after  the 
Roman  fashion  ;  and  yet  Ariovistus,  and  particularly 
Arminius,  were  not  mere  barbarian  champions.    They 


1  Tac.  Ann.  II.  15. 
*  Waitz,  I.  271. 


2  Germ.  VII. 
6  R.  A.  234. 


8  Hist.  IV.  15. 

6  Ibid.  245  ff.    Germ.  XV. 


258 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   WARRIOR 


259 


certainly  planned  and  calculated  and  directed  large 
movements  of  their  respective  forces.  In  regard  to  the 
subordinate  leaders  there  is  no  difficulty ;  they  were 
leadei^  in  the  literal  sense,  and  set  examples  of  prow- 
ess to  their  men.  Indeed,  the  king  or  supreme  chief- 
tain himself  had  to  show  this  quality,  just  as  long 
afterwards  William  the  Conqueror  was  foremost  war- 
rior of  his  army ;  and  Hagen  tells  us  what  Germans 
expected  of  their  monarch :  i  — 

*  Twere  fitting,  spake  out  Hagen,  for  such  a  folk's  delight  2 
As  chief  and  lord  to  battle  the  foremost  in  the  fight,  — 
Right  so  as  these  my  masters  »  have  here  united  stood. 
And  hewn  thro'  helm  and  harness  till  swords  were  bathed  in 
blood. 

It  argues  a  lower  state  of  military  science,  or  else 
a  great  jealousy  of  aristocratic  privileges,  that  in  some 
parts  of  Germany  the  leaders  were  chosen  by  lot. 
This  is  mentioned  by  Beda  as  customary  among  the 
Saxons,^  and  is  found  elsewhere,  as  among  the 
Goths.  However,  the  uniformity  of  tactics  lessened 
the  need  of  a  general ;  for  the  main  system  of  battle 
was  to  attack  the  foe  with  tumultuous  energy,  bear- 
ing down  all  opposition  by  sheer  force  of  valor  and 
strength.  Like  our  modern  opening  batteiy,  as  sign 
of  battle  begun,  so  in  Germanic  warfare  a  spear 
hurled  over  the  enemy  gave  signal  for  attack.^    Plu- 

1  N.  L.  2074. 

2  "Kenning  "  for  king ;  literally,  *'  comfort  of  the  people." 

*  The  three  Burgundian  kings. 

*  Hist.  Ecc.  V.  10.    When  the  Germans  served  as  Roman  auxiliaries, 
they  were  allowed  to  have  their  own  officers. 

5  The  hostile  army  was  thus  dedicated  as  sacrifice  to  the  gods.    In 
the  Voluspa  Odin  hurls  a  spear  into  the  host,  and  so  arises  ''the  first 


war. 


tarch,  in  his  account  of  the  Cimbrian  attack,  says 
that  the  Germanic  infantry  came  upon  the  Romans 
like  a  tossed  and  roaring  ocean.  As  they  rushed 
into  the  fray,  the  warriors  were  wont  to  raise  a  wild 
chant,  probably  ending  in  a  mere  din  of  thunderous 
volume,  for  they  used  the  shields  to  make  echo  and 
increase  the  volume  of  sound,  holding  them  close  to 
the  mouth ;  ^  while  women  and  children,  near  to  the 
line  of  battle,  lifted  up  a  great  noise  of  wailing,  which 
was  meant  to  remind  the  warrior  of  his  stake  in  the 
combat  and  so  to  spur  him  to  utmost  achievement,^ 
—  a  rough  anticipation  of  Tennyson's  picture  :  — 

A  moment  while  the  trumpets  blow 
He  sees  his  brood  about  thy  knee, 

The  next  like  fire  he  meets  the  foe 

And  strikes  him  dead  for  thine  and  thee. 

These  songs,  thinks  Miillenhoff,  which  warriors  sang 
as  they  rushed  into  battle  —  who  does  not  remember 
Senlac  and  the  brawny  minstrel  of  the  Chanson  de 
Roland? — ended  in  "  hoarse  and  strident  sounds  .  .  . 
where,  one  may  conjecture,  the  r  and  the  u  particu- 
larly prevailed."  5  Early  in  the  historical  period  — 
perhaps  before  —  musical  instruments  were  in  use; 
drum,  horn,  and  trumpet.*  A  fair  idea  of  such  a 
Germanic  onslaught,  with  accompanying  battle-cry 
and  song,  is  given  by  Ammianus  ^  when  he  describes 

1  Germ.  III. 

2  Ibid.  VII.  and  Mullenhoff,  de  antiq.  Germ.poesi,  p.  11 :  "Liberique 
a  tergo  positi  ululatum  sustulerunt ;  viri  autem  cantum."  See  also  his 
references,  Ann.  IV.  47  and  Hist.  II.  22. 

8  Mullenhoff,  de  antiq.  Germ,  poesi,  p.  20:  "Stridores  sonosque 
raucos  . . .  inter  quos  r  et  w  praevaluisse  conjici  licet." 

*  A.  Schultz  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2.  201. 

*  XVI.  12.  43.    Bohn's  translation  is  used. 


V  i 


3sssatte«£r:. 


■P*»' 


260 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE    WARRIOR 


261 


\\ 


\ 


the  fight  at  Strasburg,  in  the  year  357  of  our  era. 
Certain  of  the  combatants,  "  frightening  even  by  their 
gestures,  shouted  their  battle-cry,  and  the  uproar 
through  the  heat  of  the  conflict,  rising  up  from  a 
gentle  murmur  and  becoming  gradually  louder  and 
louder,  grew  fierce  as  that  of  waves  dashing  against 
the  rocks."     Such  was  the  Germanic  onset. 

Tactics  of  actual  combat,  so  far  as  any  are  men- 
tioned, seem  to  have  been  of  a  trivial  nature, — 
like  the  feigned  retreat.  Hehn  makes  the  admi- 
rable comment  that  German  war-tactics  were  bor- 
rowed from  those  of  hunting.  The  German  fought 
men  as  he  fought  wild  beasts,  "  by  cunning,  ambush, 
and  surprise."  ^ 

To  the  terror  of  this  wild  attack  the  Romans 
opposed  discipline  and  system.  German  success 
depended  on  an  overwhelming  onset  and  rush ; 
checked,  flung  back  on  itself,  the  "  wedge  "  became 
a  helpless  and  irregular  mass,  without  order  or  direc- 
tion, unable  to  cope  with  organized  assault.  It  was 
Marius  who  saw  this,  and  placed  reserves  behind  his 
line  of  battle. 

We  have  considered  the  first  and  more  important 
branch  of  military  service,  obligatory  upon  every 
citizen.  The  second  was  voluntary.  Aside  from 
enlistment  in  the  Roman  army,  —  a  custom  which 
indeed  took  larger  and  larger  proportions  as  time 
went  on,  but  was  regarded  by  the  nobler  Germanic 
sentiment  as  treason,  —  the  young  men  were  wont  to 
enter  the  retinue  of  some  powerful  native  chieftain. 
Caesar  *^  gives  us  our  earliest  information  on  the  sub- 
ject.    Raids  for  plunder,  he  says,  are  not  regarded  as 


1  Hehn,  p.  16. 


2  B.  G.  VI.  23. 


wrong,  but  as  a  useful  occasion  to  give  practice  and 
discipline  to  the  younger  warriors.     If  a  prince  ^  in 
the  popular  assembly  offers  himself  as  leader  and 
calls  on  those  who  will  follow  him,  all  who  approve 
the  affair  and  the  man  rise,  and  amid  the  shouts  of 
the  multitude  signify  their  assent.     If  then  any  one 
of  these  volunteers  refuses  to  go,  he  is  held  as  traitor 
and  deserter.     So   far  Caesar.     Very  probably  such 
raids  as  these  passed   into  permanent   expeditions ; 
and  we  know  that  such  an  enlistment  in  the  prince's 
service  was  frequently  for  life.     Volunteers  of  this 
sort  combined  the  attributes  of  a  mediaeval  free-lance 
and  a  Swiss  guardsman.    It  is  the  difference  between 
these  two  types  that  may  guide  us  in  comparing  the 
account  of  Caesar  with  the  description  which  Tacitus 
gives  of  the  comitatus  or  retinue ;  the  comitatus^  as 
we  shall  presently  see,  has  a  fii^mer  basis  and  a  better 
organization  than  the  earlier  system  of  volunteering. 
The  comitatus  was  evidently  one  of  the  great  moral 
factors   in  Germanic   life   and   achievement.     Inter- 
woven with  the  sense  and  pride  of  kindred,  and  pat- 
terned after  the  family  compact  itself,  the  system 
fostered   a   definite  obligation  and  inspired   mutual 
devotion  of  prince  and  warrior.     Here,  perhaps,  is  the 
key  to  Germanic  success  and  the  secret  of  Germanic 
supremacy.     In  war,  indeed,  of  whatever  kind  the 
Germanic  virtue  of  courage  came  to  the  front ;  but 
in  the  comitatus  courage  was  no  more  prominent  than 
fidelity,  loyalty,  and  truth.     The  sense  of  duty,  the 
sense  of  standing  and  enduring  for  a  principle,  has 

1  Who  was  this  prince  ?  Waitz,  I.  246  f .,  says  it  was  not  any  given 
noble,  but  one  of  the  principes  elected  by  the  people ;  while  Arnold 
holds  a  very  different  view.    See  the  latter's  Deutsche  Urzeit,  336-357. 


mtm^ 


t-?s-« 


262 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


\ 


always  been  the  mainspring  of  Germanic  success ;  i 
and  here  the  sense  of  duty  went  hand  in  hand  with 
affection  and  gratitude.     Where  the  relation  was  en- 
tered into  for  life,  all  these  elements  were  invested 
with  supreme  ethical  importance.     Tacitus  tells  us  2 
that  young  men  of  the  best  blood  attach  themselves 
to  a  leader  and  serve  in  his  train.     They  struggle  for 
the  nearest  place  to  the  chieftain;  and  he  in  turn 
strives  to  keep  the  most  numerous  and  effective  reti- 
nue.   It  is  his  pride  to  be  surrounded  by  such  a  band, 
his  honor  in  peace  and  his  defence  in  war.     In  this 
way  his  name  and  influence  are  carried  beyond  his 
own  country,  and  bring  him  return  in  renown  and 
gifts;   sometimes  his  reputation  alone  is  enough  to 
put  down  a  war.    In  actual  battle,  the  chieftain  must 
not  be  surpassed  in  prowess,  and  the  followers  must 
not  fail  to  emulate  him.     Shame  without  end  befalls 
the  man  who  deserts  the  chieftain,  and  his  retainers 
must  stand  by  him  in  his  captivity  and  even  in  his 
death.    After  the  battle  of  Strasburg,  where  Julian 
defeated  the  Alamanni,  a  German  chief  surrenders 
himself  to  the  Romans,  whereupon  "  his  companions, 
two  hundred  in  number,  and  his  three  most  intimate 
friends,  thinking  it  would  be  a  crime  in  them  to  sur- 
vive their  king,  or  not  to  die  for  him  if  occasion  re- 
quired, gave  themselves  up  also  as  prisoners."  3     i^ 
short,  as  Tacitus  says,  the  chieftain  fights  for  victory, 
the  followers  fight  for  the  chieftain.* 

For  our  own  early  history,  both  the  epic  BSowulf 

1  On  the  Continent  this  Pflichttreue  has  become  collective  and  mo- 
narchical;  with  Anglo-Saxons  it  is  individual,  as  in  the  case  of  liuie 
Tom  Brown  half  frozen  on  the  roof  of  the  stagecoach,  with  his  -  con- 
sciousness of  sient  endurance,  so  dear  to  every  Englishman, -of 
standmg  out  against  something  and  not  giving  in."       2  G^rm  XIII 

8  Amm.  Marc.  XVI.  12.  60,  trans,  of  Yonge.  4  Germ '  XIV  * 


! 


THE  WARRIOR 


263 


and  the  spirited  ballad  of  Maldon  are  very  helpful  in 
showing  how  strong  a  hold  this  system  kept  on  na- 
tional life  long  after  the  days  of  Tacitus.    In  BSowulf 
we  see  both  of  those  phases  to  which  we  have  just 
referred.     In  the  first  part  of  the  epic,  Beowulf,  a 
kinsman  and  "  battle-thane  "  of  Hygelac,  lives  at  the 
latter's  court.     He  hears  of  the  troubles  heaped  upon 
the  head  of  a  neighbor  king,  Hrothgar  the  Dane; 
and,  in  nobler  mood  than  that  of  the  booty-seeking 
chieftains  chronicled  by  Caesar,  chooses  fourteen  com- 
panions and  sete  off  to  free  the  monarch  from  his  foe. 
Here  is  a  comitatus,  but  it  is  for  a  specified  time,  an 
enlistment,  as  we  used  to  say,  for  the  war ;  whereas 
the  Danish  retainers  who  were  destroyed  by  Grendel 
are  the  permanent  followers  and  dependents  of  their 
king.     Says  Hrothgar :  — 

Sore  is  my  soul  to  say  to  any 

of  the  race  of  men  what  ruth  for  me 

in  Heorot  Grendel  hath  hatefully  wrought, 

what  sudden  harries.     My  hall-folk  here, 

my  warriors,  wane :  Wyrd  hath  swept  them 

into  Grendel's  terrors.  .  .  .1 

To  lose  this  comitatus  is  evidently  the  direst  of  ills ; 
to  increase  it  and  strengthen  it  is  the  supreme  good. 
Thus,  in  his  happier  days  — 

such  speed  of  war  was  sent  to  Hrothgar, 
honor  of  battle,  that  all  his  kin 
obeyed  him  gladly :  so  grew  the  youthy 
a  crowd  of  clansmen,^  — 

that  is,  his  success  and  honor  drew  young  men  to  his 
side,  and  swelled  his  comitatus  to  stately  proportions. 
And  so  Hrothgar  determines  to  build  a  splendid  hall, 

1  B^ow.  473  fif.  2  Ibid.  64  fif. 


264 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WARRIOR 


265 


the  "  Heorot "  described  above,  where  he  may  divide 
his  treasure  with  these  warriors  and  give  them  feast 
and  revel. 

Generosity  and  the  foremost  place  in  valor  are  the 
duty  of  the  prince;  absolute  fidelity  and  devotion 
mark  the  clansman.  "  Once  in  battle,  it  is  a  disgrace 
for  the  prince  to  yield  to  any  one  in  bravery,  a  dis- 
grace for  the  clansman  not  to  match  the  valor  of  his 
chief.  Shame  and  utter  ruin  of  all  reputation  are  his 
who  leaves  a  battle-field  alive  after  his  prince  has 
fallen."  So  runs  the  eloquent  tribute  of  Tacitus;^ 
and  it  is  instructive  to  see  how  faithfully  our  early 
poetry  bears  out  his  testimony.  We  may  take  an 
example  of  the  minor  sort  of  fidelity,  an  incident  in 
BSoivulf^  not  without  its  homely  pathos.  The  hero 
has  gone  deep  into  the  waters  to  fight  against  the 
mother  of  Grendel  in  her  ocean  fastness.  On  the 
bank  sit  his  vassals,  with  the  clansmen  of  Hrothgar  ; 
but  when,  after  weary  hours,  blood  begins  to  rise  to 
the  surface  of  the  water  and  stain  all  the  floods,  men 
fear  the  worst  for  Beowulf;  and  the  Danes,  giving 
up  all  hope,  leave  the  place.  But  the  clansmen  of 
Beowulf  still  hold  their  mournful  watch  upon  the 
shore,  and  when  at  last  their  chief  returns  triumph- 
ant, he  finds  them  where  he  left  them,  hopeless  but 
constant.  On  the  other  hand,  the  paternal  solicitude 
of  Beowulf  for  his  retainers  in  case  he  should  not  sur- 
vive his  perilous  undertaking  causes  him  to  remind 
King  Hrothgar  of  a  former  promise  :  — 

thou  wouldst  be  to  me, 
should  I  fall  in  battle,  in  father's  stead. 
Be  thou  stay  and  strength  to  my  stout  companions, 
my  warrior-friends,  if  war  should  take  me  !  ^ 

1  Oerm.  XIV.  2  B^ow,  1479  flf. 


i 


A  still  better  note  sounds  in  the  final  scene  of  our 
epic.  Beowulf  goes  out  to  fight  the  dragon,  and, 
scorning  to  use  an  army,^  he  takes  with  him  only  a 
few  of  his  best  retainers,  —  eleven  picked  men.^  But 
at  sight  of  the  monster,  belching  flame  and  poison, 
the  clansmen  beat  an  inglorious  retreat  and  leave 
their  master  to  his  fate,  —  all  but  one.  Wiglaf, 
ashamed  of  the  cowardly  flight,  sees  from  his  covert 
how  the  old  hero  bears  the  stress  of  battle  against 
overwhelming  odds,  and  thinking  of  all  the  gifts  and 
bounties  his  lord  has  heaped  upon  him,  a  nobler  pas- 
sion seizes  him.  He  thinks  of  his  own  boastings  in 
hall :  3  _ 

I  mind  me  the  time  when  mead  we  took, 
and  loyal  vow  to  our  lord  we  made, 
in  the  banquet-hall  to  the  breaker-of-rings, 
that  we  would  reward  him  for  warlike  gear, 
if  ever  the  hour  of  evil  came  .  .  .* 

and  he  urges  the  others  to  go  to  the  help  of 
Beowulf :  — 

Better  for  me  this  body  of  mine 

should  fall  with  my  chief  in  clutch  of  flame. 

Shame  it  were  our  shields  to  bear 

back  to  our  land,  unless  the  rather 

we  fell  the  foe  and  defend  our  chief  tain.  ^ 

Alone  he  springs  through  smoke  and  flame  to  the 
side  of  his  prince,  speaks  to  him  a  few  words  of 
cheer,  and  then  fights  manfully  against  the  dragon. 
When  all  is  over,  and  Bdowulf  lies  dead  along  with 

1  Ibid.  2345  ff.,  2401.  a  2638  f. 

*  For  these  boastings  in  hall,  see  some  later  instances  in  Child's 
Ballads,2  II.  277. 

*  2633  ff.  5  2651  ff. 


266 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   WARRIOR 


267 


the  foe,  the  ten  come  where  Wiglaf,  sprinkling 
water  on  the  face  of  his  lord,  is  vainly  endeavoring  to 
win  him  back  to  life.  Out  breaks  the  young  hero's 
reproach,  which  closes  with  this  prophecy  of  denun- 
ciation :  — 

Gift  of  treasure  and  girding  of  sword, 

delight  of  home,  and  life's  support, 

to  all  your  kin  shall  hereafter  fail. 

Right  of  land  shall  be  lost  to  all 

of  the  men  of  your  clan  when  chieftains  hear 

from  far-off  homes  of  the  flight  ye  made, 

deed  inglorious !     Death  is  better 

for  every  clansman  than  coward  life.^ 

It  is  a  dull  pulse,  to  be  sure,  that  does  not  beat  the 
quicker  for  these  words ;  but  in  Maldon  the  tone  is 
even  more  intimate  and  direct.  What  passionate 
scorn  is  poured  out  upon  the  heads  of  those  cowardly 
thanes  who  flee  from  the  battle-ground  and  leave 
their  lord  dead  among  his  enemies !  Maldon^  with 
this  superb  energy  of  patriotism,  waited  in  vain  for 
a  rival  until  the  Agincourt  of  Drayton;  while  mod- 
em poetry  has  essayed  the  note  only  to  end  in  a  sad, 
unreal  chatter,  saving  always  that  passage  in  which 
Sir  Walter's  big  heart  throbbed  to  the  fates  of 
Flodden  Field,  —  Scott  himself  no  unworthy  son  of 
the  old  clansmen  who  put  fidelity  to  one's  chieftain 
at  the  head  of  all  virtues,  and  his  verses  no  unworthy 
echo  of  the  early  song:  — 

The  English  shafts  in  volleys  hailed. 
In  headlong  charge  their  horse  assailed. 
Front,  flank,  and  rear,  the  squadrons  sweep 
To  break  the  Scottish  circle  deep 
That  fought  about  their  king. 

1  Beow,  2884  ff. 


i 


But  yet,  though  thick  the  shafts  as  snow, 
Though  charging  knights  like  whirlwinds  go. 
Though  billmen  ply  the  ghastly  blow. 

Unbroken  was  the  ring; 
The  stubborn  spearmen  still  made  good 
Their  dark  impenetrable  wood. 
Each  stepping  where  his  comrade  stood 

The  instant  that  he  fell. 
No  thought  was  there  of  dastard  flight ; 
Linked  in  the  serried  phalanx  tight, 
Groom  fought  like  noble,  squire  like  knight. 

As  fearlessly  and  well. 

Fidelity  to  chieftain  and  king  redeems  and  raises 
Hagen  of  the  Nibelungen  Lay  from  a  mere  assassin 
at  the  outset  to  a  splendid  hero  at  the  end.  The 
character  of  Ruedeger  in  the  same  lay  shows  us  a 
situation  as  acute  as  any  Greek  tragedy  can  produce. 
Not  even  Orestes,  with  filial  duty  dragging  him  in 
opposite  directions,  is  so  completely  tragical  a  figure 
as  this  Germanic  warrior  halting  in  agony  between 
disobedience  to  his  lord  and  battle  with  his  guests 
and  son-in-law ;  it  is  instructive  to  note  that  in  this 
struggle  between  kin-duty  and  vassal-duty,  the  latter 
conquers.  Finally,  we  may  mark  that  when  mission- 
aries came  into  the  Germanic  lands  to  preach  Christ 
and  his  twelve  apostles,  nothing  appealed  more  ac- 
tively to  the  native  than  the  resemblance  of  this  bond 
between  master  and  disciple  to  his  own  system  of 
chieftain  and  clansmen.  Christ  died  for  his  beloved, 
and  they  endured  martyrdom  for  him.  What  simpler 
theology  ? 

Of  the  various  names  for  the  clansmen,  the  Latin 
comes  seems  to  have  been  the  outcome  and  survivor. 
When  Tacitus  talks  of  the  "  clients  "  of  Segestes,  it 


268 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


is  by  a  very  evident  interpretatio  Romana.  Oomes^ 
perhaps  from  cum  and  eo^  would  thus  correspond 
exactly  to  Anglo-Saxon  gesilS  —  one  who  goes  with 
you  on  a  journey.  More  vivid  are  the  other  words 
of  our  old  speech,  eaxlgestealla,  "  shoulder-comrade," 
or  he  whose  place  is  at  the  shoulder  of  his  lord ;  and 
heor^genSat,  "hearth-comrade."  Another  word,  often 
used  in  Anglo-Saxon  law,  is  "^egen  or  "  thane,"  with 
the  prevailing  notion  of  service,  —  such  service  as 
a  freeman  might,  without  loss  of  dignity,  render  to  a 
powerful  nobleman  or  prince.^ 

Mediaeval  survivals  and  new  creations  are  often 
inextricably  entangled,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  trace  the 
simple  comitatus  of  German  forests  amid  the  varying 
phases  of  the  feudal  system.  Confining  ourselves  to 
the  earlier  compact,  we  may  assume  it  to  have  been 
sometimes  temporary,  but  often  permanent.  We  need 
not  idealize  it  too  highly ;  the  arrangement  was  ob- 
viously good  for  both  parties  to  the  bargain,  and 
there  were  substantial  presents,  swords,  horses,  jewels, 
land,  for  the  ambitious  clansman  to  keep  before  his 

eyes.2 

The  age  at  which  a  warrior,  whether  in  the  militia 
or  in  the  comitatus^  began  his  career  differed,  it  would 
seem,  for  different  Germanic  tribes.  Holtzmann  *  col- 
lects the  evidence,  which  fixes  twenty  years  among 

1  See  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  Glossary,  s.v.  and  the  well-known  anec- 
dote of  Lilla,  the  dearest  thane  of  Edwin,  king  of  Northumbria;  an 
assassin  aims  his  dagger  at  the  king ;  the  thane  leaps  before  his  master 
and  receives  the  blow. 

2  See  Grimm  in  his  already  quoted  essay  on  Schenken  iind  Geben; 
Vilmar,  Altert.  im  Heliand,  p.  51 ;  and  for  general  subject  ot  comitatus 
among  the  Norsemen,  Vigfusson-Powell,  II.  477  f. 

8  Germ.  Alter,  p.  196. 


THE  WARRIOR 


269 


the  West>-Goths,  eighteen  for  the  Lombards,  and  — 
if  one  can  believe  it  —  twelve  for  the  Anglo-Saxons 
and  Franks.  For  later  times  and  customs,  we  have 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  military  coming  of  age  given 
us  in  the  Nibelungen  Lay,  where  the  festival  is 
described  which  Siegfried's  parents  give  in  his  honor 
for  such  an  occasion ;  but  here  the  old  simplicity  has 
been  succeeded  by  a  number  of  feudal  and  chivalric 
elements. 


270 


GEKMANIC   OKIGINS 


CHAPTER    IX 

SOCIAL  ORDER 

The  king  originally  a  creation  of  the  race  —  His  authority  and 
duties  —  Inheritance  and  election  —  Ideals  —  The  queen  —  Nobles 
by  birth  and  by  office  —  The  Germanic  freeman  —  The  freedman 
and  the  slave  —  The  aUen. 

At  the  head  of  the  family  we  found,  of  course,  the 
father;  and  at  the  head  of  the  state  we  naturally  look 
for  the  king.  The  word  "  king  "  means  the  child  or 
son  of  the  tribe,  its  representative  or  even  creation ;  ^ 
man  of  race,  man  of  rank.  Gradually  the  king  ceases 
to  be  regarded  as  a  creation  of  his  race ;  his  ancestry 
is  pushed  back  to  the  gods,  and  his  right  is  quite 
above  all  sanctions  of  popular  choice  or  approval. 
The  early  Germanic  king  was  still  a  creation  of  his 
race;  true,  as  Tacitus  tells  us,  he  was  chosen  on 
account  of  his  noble  birth,  —  but  he  was  chosen.  A 
number  of  Germanic  tribes  can  be  named  which  have 
no  king  in  their  earliest  historical  period ;  such  were 

1  "He  who  belongs  to  the  race,"  explains  Waitz,  Verfassungsgesch. 
I.  326;  and  so  interpret  Curtius  and  Soberer.  Arnold  seems  to  take 
the  same  view :  Deutsche  Urzeit,  p.  333.  Grimm,  R.  A.  230,  will  not 
derive  king  from  kin.  For  details  of  Germanic  kingship,  see  Rosen- 
stein,  Ube^  das  altgermanische  Konigthiim  in  the  Zschst.  f.  Vol- 
kerpsych.  und  Sprachw.  VII.  113-188;  and  Dahn,  Die  KOnige  der 
Germanen. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


271 


Marcomanni,  Franks,  Lombards,  and  Anglo-S axons. ^ 
The  great  movement  of  tribes  which  begins  German 
national  history,  lays  the  foundation  of  saga  and  epic, 
and  crystallizes  a  mass  of  myths  into  a  system,  was 
also  the  chief  factor  in  the  development  of  early  Ger- 
manic royalty.     A  constant  struggle   demands  con- 
stant leadership ;  and  the  republican  elements  of  our 
old  constitution  disappeared  rapidly  in  the  presence 
of  perennial  warfare.     Out  of  a  mass  of  small  democ- 
racies or  elective  monarchies,  arose  at  last  the  great 
nations  of  the  Franks,  the  Bavarians,  the  Alaman- 
nians.      The    popular   assembly   became   impossible, 
except  in  compact  England,  which  built  up  a  repre- 
sentative system.2     Monarchy  of  some  sort,  it  is  true, 
was  probably  inherent  in  the  earliest  Germanic  con- 
stitution ;  but  it  sat  lightly  on  the  state,  and  in  the 
time  of  Tacitus  there  seems  to  be  a  distinction  in  the 
Roman  mind  between  the  German   tribes  that  had 
kings  and  those   that  had  none.^     The  kings  who, 
according  to  Tacitus,  were  chosen  on  account  of  their 
nobility  of  birth,  and  the  leaders  (^duces)  who  were 
chosen  for  their  valor,  were  alike  of  the  best  blood  of 
the  race.     Where  a  single  monarch  did  not  reign, 
princes   or  chieftains    {principes)    of    the   foremost 

1  Von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2.  126.    Tac.  Germ. 

2  Rosenstein,  work  quoted,  p.  163. 

8  Waitz,  Verfass.  I.  295.  Gregory  of  Tours  speaks  (II.  9)  of  long- 
haired kings  {reges  crinitos)  chosen  from  the  noblest  families;  and 
Beda,  in  a  famous  passage  {Hist.  Eccl.  V.  10),  about  the  continental 
Saxons,  says  that  "they  have  no  king,  but  several  lords  that  rule  their 
nation;  and  when  any  war  happens,  they  cast  lots  indifferently,  and 
on  whomsoever  the  lot  falls,  him  they  follow  and  obey  during  the  war; 
but  as  soon  as  the  war  is  ended,  all  these  lords  are  again  equal  in 
power."  —  Transl.  of  Giles. 


272 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


clans  made  up  a  sort  of  oligarchy ;  and  we  hear  of  a 
king  with  associated  or  inferior  kings  ruling  over  one 
people.^  In  time  of  war,  out  of  several  such  chief- 
tains (^principes)  might  be  chosen  a  leader  (dux)^  as 
in  the  case  of  Arminius.  Indeed,  the  Germans  seem 
to  have  been  fond  of  two  leaders  even  in  war ;  Waitz 
cites  the  case  of  Hrothgar  and  Hrothulf.^  Moreover, 
we  must  note  that  Tacitus  uses  the  expression  "  take  " 
or  "choose":^  "they*  take  to  themselves"  kings  or 
leaders,  as  the  case  may  be.  Jacob  Grimm  describes 
this  elective  monarchy  as  one  where  inheritance  was 
modified  by  the  necessity  of  confirmation,  and  election 
was  modified  by  restriction  of  choice  to  the  royal 
family.^  Thus  the  Cherusci  sent  to  Rome  for  a 
person  of  kingly  lineage  who  happened  to  be  the  sole 
survivor  of  his  race ;  for  the  nobility,  says  Tacitus, 
were  destroyed  by  civil  strife.^  The  Anglo-Saxon 
genealogies,  mounting  always  to  demi-gods  and  gods, 
show  the  stress  laid  upon  kingly  descent ;  though  we 
must  in  this  case  allow  for  the  abnormal  conditions  of 
ceaseless  raids,  and  a  considerable  concentration  and 
increase  in  royal  authority. 

The  newly  elected  king  was  lifted  upon  a  shield 
and  thrice  borne  about  the  assembly.  He  made  as 
soon  as  possible  a  formal  progress  through  his  domin- 

1  A  passage  in  Beowulf  (vv.  2152  ff.)  tells  us  that  after  the  hero's 
liberal  presents  to  King  Hygelac  and  his  queen,  the  monarch  presented 
his  kinsman  Be'owulf  with  a  splendid  sword,  and  also  gave  him  ♦•  seven 
thousand,  a  house  (home)  and  ruler-seat  (i.e.  dominion,  royal  power)." 
The  "  seven  thousand  "  may  refer  to  money  or  (Kluge,  P.  B.Beit,  IX. 
191)  to  land.    See  also  Waitz,  Verfass.  p.  330. 

2  Waitz,  Verfass.  202.    J5^or«.  1191.  ^  Sximunt. 
4  The  popular  assembly.  5  /?.  ^.  231. 

«  Ann.  XI.  IG:  *•  amissis  per  interna  bella  nobilibus,  et  uno  reliquo 
stirpis  regiae." 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


273 


I 


\ 


ions,  that  he  might  be  seen  and  known  of  all  his  folk. 
His  external  tokens  of  royalty  were  originally  meagre, 
and  the  flowing  locks  he  shared  with  all  freemen. 
Crown  and  such  insignia  are  later  matters  imitated 
from  the  Romans ;  but  a  military  standard  of  some 
sort  was  doubtless  borne  before  the  German  king. 
In  peace  his  functions  must  have  been  judicial,  and 
often  sacred  or  priestly ;  though  this  was  not  always 
the  case.  In  historic  times  the  priestly  function 
was  a  royal  duty  for  Scandinavia,  but  not  for  Bur- 
gundian  and  other  German  monarclis.  Many  a  race 
made  a  god  of  its  departed  ruler ;  particularly  when 
he  had  won  wide  lands  or  brought  new  culture  and 
social  order  into  his  dominions,  deification  was  likely 
to  follow  his  death.^  But  in  war  was  the  chief 
strength  of  a  Germanic  king ;  to  his  personal  conduct 
of  a  campaign  was  due  success  or  failure,  and  as  he 
was  to  keep  peace  within  his  own  borders,  so  he  was 
expected  to  spread  desolation  or  conquest  beyond 
them.  Failure  was  fatal.  As  he  had  been  elected, 
so  he  could  be  deposed.  The  centre  of  ancient  Ger- 
manic states  was  the  popular  assembly ;  and  a  king 
was  its  creature,  to  be  deposed  if  he  were  not  equal 
to  his  task,  but  doubtless  to  hold  authority  amid  com- 
parative awe  and  silence  so  long  as  he  was  successful. 
In  times  of  peace  he  had  no  authority  whatever  to 
issue  decrees,  make  laws,  or  initiate  any  sort  of  legis- 
^lation;  he  was  executor  of  popular  law  and  popular 
will.  Progress  in  kingly  power  is  marked  by  the 
oath  of  fidelity;  and  with  the  anarchy  of  war  and 
conquest,  kings  must  have  acquired,  little  by  little, 

1  See  also  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2. 126,  135. 


274 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


that  sense  of  proprietorship  and  absolute  right  which 
distinguished  mediaeval  royalty.  The  church  lent 
her  authority  to  make  personal  and  individual  that 
doctrine  of  divine  right  which  before  had  been  dis- 
tributed over  a  whole  family,  and  the  elective  king- 
ship of  old  Germanic  days  was  lost  beyond  recovery 
for  feudal  Europe.  One  land  alone  held  fast,  if  not  to 
the  old  form,  at  least  to  the  old  principle ;  and  it  was 
England  which  by  incessant  struggles  on  the  soil  of 
two  continents  sustained,  despite  all  reactions,  the 
genius  of  Germanic  freedom  side  by  side  with  the 
derived  reverence  for  law  and  discipline.  The  con- 
stitutional history  of  England  properly  treats  these 
matters;  suffice  for  our  purpose  a  single  sentence 
from  the  close  of  the  introduction  to  Alfred's  laws 
for  his  people :  "  Now  I,  Alfred,  king  of  the  West- 
Saxons,  have  showed  these  to  all  my  Witan,  and  they 
have  told  me  that  it  liked  them  all  that  everything 
should  be  kept."  The  Witan,  as  everybody  knows, 
were  the  legal  councillors  or  advisers  of  the  king, 
and  in  a  measure  representatives  of  the  people ;  thus 
we  need  assume  no  great  change,  except  in  circum- 
stances, from  the  Germanic  king  and  the  Germanic 
assembly. 

Of  this  Germanic  king,  prince,  or  leader,  we  have 
many  descriptions  in  praise  and  in  blame.  At  the 
opening  of  BSowulf  we  are  told  what  was  for  those 
days  a  good  king  :  — 

He  waxed  under  welkin  in  worth  and  honor 
till  the  folk  around  him,  far  and  near, 
across  the  whale-road  ^  hearken'd  to  him, 
tribute  gave  him  :  good,  —  such  king.2 


1  Sea. 


2  Beow.  8  ff. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


275 


The  secret  of  prosperity  —  so,  at  least,  the  singers 
have  all  said  —  lay  in  liberality  to  the  royal  re- 
tainers ;  and  so  our  BSowulf  goes  on  with  its  ideal 
picture :  — 

Thus  becomes  it  a  youth  to  quit  him  well 

to  his  father's  friends  with  fee  and  gift, 

that  to  aid  him  aged  in  after  days 

come  willing  clansmen,  should  war  draw  near  him, 

to  help  their  prince.  .  .  .  ^ 

The  free-handed  monarch  is  praised  by  Widsith  in 
our  oldest  English  poem :  — 

Likewise  with  ^Ifwine  in  Italy  was  I : 
of  all  mankind  I  ken,  he  cherished 
heart  most  ungrudging  in  gift  of  rings, 
sheeny  treasure,  the  son  of  Eadwine.^ 

The  ideal  king  at  home  was  the  "ring-breaker," 
who  sat  upon  his  "gift-seat"  or  throne,  and  dealt 
out  treasure  from  an  inexhaustible  store,  while 
tribute  flowed  in  from  countless  subject  tribes,  and 
hostility  was  paralyzed  by  the  memory  of  his  former 
deeds.  To  this  conception  belong  those  epithets 
for  royalty  which  emphasize  the  bond  between  the 
ruler  and  his  folk,  those  "kennings"  which  call 
him,  if  a  Hrothgar,  "  friend  of  the  Scyldings,"  wine 
Scyldinga,  or  "refuge  for  earls,"  eorla  hleo ;  and 
which  often  combine  the  virtues  of  friendship  and 
generosity,  as  in  "  gold-friend  of  men,"  goldwine  gu- 
mena^  a  kenning  which  occurs  in  Beowulf's  petition 
to  Hrothgar  that  the  latter  may  remember  his  prom- 
ise and  be  a  father  to  his  guest :  — 

...  of  what  we  two  spake, 
gold-friend  of  men,  be  mindful  now.s 


1  B^ow.  20  ff. 


2  WidsW,  70  ff. 


8  Beow.  1474  ff. 


v 


-^^m-^tim.  *  i»  <■'  iw  ■ 


276 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Other  kennings  ^  of  this  peaceful  connotation  are : 
treasure-lord,  treasure-herdsman  (guardian),  gold- 
giver,  hoard-ward,  wish-giver,  ward  (guardian  par 
excellence^,  folk's- ward,  warriors'  ward,  folk's-herds- 
man,  helmet,  people's  protector,  caretaker  of  folk, 
friend  (^par  excellence^,  lord-friend,  folk's  owner,  lord 
of  men,  judge,  lord  and  judge,  first  in  the  land.  Of  a 
warlike  origin  are  :  helmet  of  armies,  leader  of  squad- 
rons, leader  of  the  people,  fii"st  in  deeds,  "  the  first 
spear  (^frumgdr),^^  first  in  battle,  battle-ward  of  men, 
army-leader.2  It  is  from  names  like  these,  most  of 
them  old  poetic  forms,  like  the  Homeric  epithet,  that 
we  may  best  make  up  our  conception  of  the  Germanic 
king. 

The  queen  was  naturally  a  prominent  figure ;  but 
the  kennings  for  her  are  rare.  "  Weaver  of  peace  " 
is  of  coui*se  applied  to  her ;  but  "  lady,"  hloefdige,  if 
like  "  lord  "  it  comes  from  the  notion  of  loaf-sharing, 
is  a  wider  term.  That  women  now  and  then  exer- 
cised royal  functions,  we  learn  not  only  from  the 
famous  Lady  of  the  Mercians,  but  from  the  older 
case  of  the  Gothic  queen  Amalasuntha.  Offices  of 
gracious  hospitality  we  have  already  noticed  in  the 
queen  of  Hrothgar;^  nor,  as  representative  woman 
of  the  race,  could  she  have  failed  to  enjoy  a  rich 
measure  of  that  reverence  which  the  Germans  paid 
to  her  sex. 

Besides  the  king  and  the  leaders  of  the  people,  we 
must  allow  for  an  order  of  nobles,  men  whose  birth 


1 1  draw  liberally  upon  Wilhelm  Bode  s  Die  Kenningar  in  der  Ags. 
Dichtung,  Darmstadt  und  Leipzig,  1886. 

2  Similar  ScandiDavian  kennings  in  Vigfusson-Powell,  C.  P.  B.  II. 
479  f.  8  Above,  pp.  117,  134. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


277 


and  alliance  with  princely  houses  raised  them  above 
the  rank  of  ordinary  freemen.  The  name  of  this 
noble  quality  is  preserved  in  the  German  Adel,  and 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  ce^eling,  with  the  general  notion 
of  "  race,"  "  descent."  The  ivergild  was  based  chiefly 
on  birth  and  rank  ;  although  age,  sex,  office,  and  con- 
nection with  the  king  were  also  criteria.^  The  honor 
of  birth  was  not  the  honor  of  office,  but  was  rather 
an  inherent,  one  might  say  passive,  distinction.  If 
there  were  duties  as  well  as  privileges  connected 
with  it,  the  former  doubtless  lay  in  priestly  and  judi- 
cial responsibilities.  By  old  custom,  the  head  of  a 
house  was  its  priest  as  well  as  judge  and  ruler.  No- 
bility, we  may  assume,  entitled  men  to  a  prominent 
place  in  war  ;  ^  and  in  time  of  peace,  forms  and  cere- 
monies of  the  state  religion  would  call  for  officials 
from  the  families  to  whom  tradition  gave  divine  or 
high  heroic  origin.  Indeed,  the  theory  that  priest- 
hood was  an  avocation  and  not  a  regular  caste  or  call- 
ing is  strengthened  by  the  remarkably  small  part  it 
played  in  opposition  to  Christianity;  it  is  Coifi,  the 
Northumbrian  priest,  who  leads  in  the  attack  upon 
the  altar  of  his  gods.^ 

The  Germanic  nobles  were  thus  the  oldest  and 
most  venerable  families.  We  hear  of  them  in  Tacitus, 
who  pays  them  an  enemy's  generous  tribute  in  an  ac- 
count of  battles  among  the  Batavians.^     Whereas  in 


1  Waitz,  Ver/ass.  1. 105  f .  The  Angli  and  Werini  had  for  the  noble  ar 
wergild  thrice  as  great  as  for  the  ordinary  freeman. 

2  Waitz,  p.  280. 

8  Waitz,  ibid.  See  also  Beda,  Hist.  Ecc.  II.  13:  "Cumque  a  .  .  . 
pontifice  [sc.  Coifi]  sacrorum  suorum  quajreret  [sc.  the  Christian  bishop], 
quis  aras  et  fana  idolorum  cum  septis,  quibus  erant  circumdata,  primus 
profanare  deberet;  ille  respondit :  Ego.  ..."  *  Ann.  II.  11. 


278 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


historical  Anglo-Saxon,  the  word  ceheling  always  means 
a  member  of  the  royal  house,^  in  older  times,  notably 
in  our  epic  BSowulf,  as  also  in  many  proper  names 
familiar  to  all  of  us,  it  had  a  wider  signification,  and 
meant  a  man  of  noble  blood,  a  man  of  "descent." 
Again,  even  before  Danish  influences  made  our  old 
word  eorl  denote  a  special  title  of  nobility  like  the 
Scandinavian  jarl  (Hakon  Jarl),^  there  must  have 
dwelt  a  certain  odor  of  eminence  in  the  term,  as  op- 
posed to  ceorl,  "  man  "  of  any  sort.  Nobles  were  of 
better  clay  than  common  freemen ;  and  the  founder 
of  their  race  being  deified,  his  home  worship,  at  first 
the  regular  manes-cult,  would  pass  into  symbolic 
rites  and  then  into  poetical  traditions.  To  men  of 
this  stamp  the  minstrel  sang  about  the  deeds  of  their 
forebears,  divine  now,  and  now  heroic.  "  We  have 
heard,"  begins  the  singer  of  BSowulf,  "how  in  days  of 
yore  the  aethelings  did  valiant  deeds."  Similarly,  the 
nobles  of  the  middle  ages  found  chief  delight  in  a  lay 
which  celebrated  their  ancestors  :  and  such  legendary 
songs  were  as  indispensable  to  a  genuine  noble  as  the 
family  pictures  to  the  gentleman  of  to-day,  and  often 
as  open  to  suspicion. 

In  course  of  time,  and  by  reason  of  the  ceaseless 
wars  of  the  wandering,  this  old  nobility  of  the 
Germanic  clans  died  out ;  its  place  was  taken  by  the 
comitatus  and  the  ofiicial  nobility  springing  up  about 
powerful  kings,  until  the  new  order  became,  in  its 
•turn,  hereditary.  Of  the  great  English  officials,  chief 
place  belongs  to  the  so-called  "  alderman,"  who  was 
representative  of  the  king  for  a  given  shire  or  other 

1  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  p.  527 ;  cf.  also  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  I.  151. 

2  Cf.  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  II.  2. 113  f. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


279 


division  of  land.  Such  an  alderman  is  the  high- 
hearted Byrhtnoth;  ^  he  collects  and  leads  the  royal 
troops  against  all  enemies  of  the  king,  maintains 
order  in  his  district,  and  occasionally  presides  at 
court.  The  alderman  seems  to  have  been  a  creature 
of  the  king,  but  with  consent  of  the  witan.^  Later, 
the  Danish  "  earl "  took  the  Saxon  ealdorman's  place 
and  privileges;  but  the  word  had  acquired  a  general 
connotation  of  superior  rank.^  "He  came  to  tlie 
town-reeve,  who  was  his  alderman,"  quotes  Schmid 
from  Beda;  and  we  find  a  curious  passage  in  the 
Leechdoms  (Herbarium),  w^here  mention  is  made  of 
Achilles  ]>e  ealdornian^  Other  examples  of  this  do- 
mestic rendering  of  foreign  rank  may  be  found  in 
an  Anglo-Saxon  homily,  where  Christ  is  called  an 
(B^eling,  Moses  a  heretoga  or  leader,  the  saints  ^egnas, 
thanes  or  warriors,  and  the  Jews  in  Egypt,  —  for- 
eigners, of  course,  —  Wealhas,  "  Welsh."  ^ 

Ownership  of  land  was  ultimately  the  test  of 
gentry ;  but  it  could  not  have  made  so  prominent  a 
part  of  the  Germanic  noble's  credentials.^  Still,  such 
traditions  best  flourish  on  the  soil  which  produced 
them,  and  the  connection  of  tracts  of  land  with  a 
given  noble  family  must  have  been  an  early  factor  in 

1  See  p.  237.  2  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  560. 

8  It  was  probably  unknown  to  continental  Saxons,  though  used  by 
the  Frisians.     Cf.  Waitz,  p.  215. 

^Cockayne,  Leechdoms,  etc.,  I.  308.  The  ** satraps"  (satrai^se)  or 
governors,  whom  Beda  (see  above,  p.  271)  mentions  among  the  Old 
Saxons,  are  rendered  by  ealdorman  in  Alfred's  translation.  See 
Stubbs,  I.  42. 

^  Another  classification  of  ranks,  found  in  the  homilies,  is  1)  oratores 
(clergy) ;  2)  bellatores  (warriors) ;  3)  lahoratores. 

6  Historians  disagree.  Cf.  Waitz,  1. 167  f.,  and  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist, 
1. 155. 


280 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


the  pomp  and  pride  of  nobility.  The  amount  of  land 
held  by  a  person  determined  in  Anglc-Saxon  law 
the  amount  of  his  wergild.  Blood  was  the  origin 
of  rank;  it  meant  more  than  property,  and  far  more 
than  any  station  or  command.  Certainly,  for  the 
earliest  times  at  least,  we  must  not  think  that  office 
and  nobility  were  convertible  terms.^ 

The  unit  of  Germanic  public  life  was  the  freeman, 
the  son  of  a  free  father  and  a  free  mother.  True,  old 
and  vague  traditions  made  the  mother  alone  respon- 
sible, and,  based  on  that  original  maternal  system  to 
which  reference  has  been  made  above,  founded  the 
maxim  of  "free  mother,  free  child";  but  a  later 
custom  caused  the  offspring  of  free  and  unfree  to 
"follow  the  worse  hand,"  whether  maternal  or  pa- 
ternal.2  Further,  the  freeman  might  be  created  from 
an  unfree  man  by  course  of  legal  ceremony,  or  as  in 
older  times,  by  adoption.  If  our  old  word  "earl" 
rightfully  convey,  even  before  the  Danish  influence, 
an  echo  of  nobility,  it  is  no  fault  of  the  ancient 
German  freeman  that  the  name  "  churl "  stares  at  us 
moderns  with  such  a  stupid  and  ungracious  air. 
This  is  a  commentary  on  the  havoc  wrought  by  wars 
and  conquests  upon  the  old  Germanic  constitution. 
The  freeman  of  the  Norse  Rigsmdl  is  named  "  Karl " ; 
and  an  old  Holstein  form  of  administering  the  oath, 
to  freemen  of  course,  reads :  "  Step  up,  ye  Kerls, 
..."  3  Grimm  finds  the  name  not  only  in  Carloman, 
but  in  the  word  for  king  (kral),  used  by  Slavs  and 
Lithuanians,  and  derived  from  the  founder  of  the 

1  Waitz,  p.  243.    Loebell,  Gregory  v.  Tours,  pp.  87,  392  ff. 

2  Scandinavian  law  gave  benefit  of  the  "better  hand."    See  von 
Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2. 112.  8  b.  A.  166. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


281 


German  empire.^  So  the  Anglo-Saxon  form  ceorl 
seems  to  have  meant  "  man  " ;  that  is,  of  course,  the 
normal  man,  the  freeman.  Significant  is  the  dignity 
of  the  word  in  our  Beoivulf,  When  the  hero  is 
planning  his  eri*and  of  mercy  to  help  King  Hrothgar, 
"wise  men"  praise  his  purpose  and  encourage  him, — 
sfiotere  ceorlas?  The  word  is  applied  to  the  warriors 
and  courtiers  of  the  Danish  king;  and  twice,  with 
the  epithet  "  old,"  it  is  used  of  royalty  itself.^  This 
is  for  the  heroic  age  :  in  the  laws  ceorl  drops  to  the 
two  meanings  "husband"  (among  animals  we  find 
carl  as  a  prefix  indicating  the  male  of  a  given  species) 
and  "  countryman  "  or  "  peasant."  *  In  one  old  law, 
however,  it  is  used  in  the  ancient  sense  of  "  freeman." 
A  more  descriptive  name  is  preserved  in  an  account  of 
the  heathen  Saxons  (continental)  written  by  Hucbald 
in  the  tenth  century,^  who  in  turn  partially  quotes 
Nithard,  the  grandson  of  Charles  the  Great,  whose 
material  was  close  at  hand.  It  is  noted  that  the 
Saxons  had  no  kings,  but  were  divided  into  three 
classes,  called  in  their  own  tongue  edlingi^  frilingi^ 
lassi.     The  friling  is  our  freeman. 

The  freeman  (capillatus)  was  distinguished  by  his 
long,  flowing  hair,  and  by  his  arms,  the  so-called  folk- 
weapons.^  The  Salic  Law  ordains  severe  penalties 
against  any  one  who  shall  cut  or  shave  the  hair  from 
a  puer  crinitus  without  the  consent  of  the  latter's 
parents ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  for  people  to  let  a 
slave's  hair  grow  long  was  criminal  offence.  The 
freeman  had  the  right  of  waging  private  feud,  so  far 

1  Ibid.  282.  2  B^ow.  202,  416. 

8  B4ow.  1591,  2444,  2972.  4  Schmid,  Ags.  Ges.  p.  643  f. 

6  Life  of  St.  Lebuin.    See  Stubbs,  I.  42  ff.  6  R.  A.  283  ff. 


282 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


as  the  increasing  severity  of  legislation  did  not  bar 
his  way.  He  was  member  of  his  village  and  district 
assemblies,  as  of  the  larger  council  of  his  tribe; 
among  people  like  the  Saxons  this  meant  self-govern- 
ment. As  long  as  the  freeman  was  mainstay  of  the 
state,  Germanic  freedom  kept  its  vigor;  with  his 
decline,  we  pass  into  the  tyrannies  of  feudal  Europe, 
where  nobility  and  serfdom,  spreading  out  their  bor- 
ders, left  scant  space  between  them  for  the  honest 
friling. 

We  need  here  delay  no  longer  with  the  freeman, 
for  it  is  about  his  life  that  all  our  task  revolves,  and 
whatever  has  been  said  without  explicit  limitation, 
belongs  to  his  account.  We  turn,  therefore,  to  that 
class  which,  being  neither  bond  nor  free,  offers  con- 
siderable trouble  to  the  exact  student  of  our  constitu- 
tional history.  Manumission  from  slavery  gave  rise 
to  the  so-called  freedmen.  These,  if  w^e  may  venture 
a  broad  assertion,  seem  to  have  been  without  the 
tasks  of  slavery  or  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 
Among  Anglo-Saxons,  a  lance  and  a  sword,  emblems 
of  the  freeman's  rank,  were  handed  in  symbolical 
ceremony  to  the  person  thus  released ;  but  he  did  not 
thereby  become  peer  of  the  freeman,  and  even  his 
descendants  remained  in  a  class  by  themselves,  be- 
tween the  freeman  and  the  slave.^  Such  a  subordi- 
nate rank,  moreover,  was  doubtless  held  by  men  who 
submitted  in  a  body  to  some  conquering  tribe  and 
were  allowed  to  keep  land  and  liberty ;  their  seeming 
freedom  was  a  concession,  not  a  right.     On  the  same 

1  The  wergild  followed  the  shades  of  unfreedom  down  to  the  actual 
slave,  who  had  none  at  all.    See  also  von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2. 

list 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


283 


footing  were  foreigners,  whom  our  ancestors  every- 
where called  "  Welshmen."  The  specific  name  for 
this  class  of  freedmen  among  Low  Germans  was  in 
Latin  form  litus^  in  Frisian  let^  and  in  our  own  Kent- 
ish dialect,  Icet} 

There  must  have  been  a  wide  range  of  privileges 
among  this  class,  scanty  enough  in  some  instances 
and  little  better  than  a  slave's  "seven  hundred  and 
twenty  loaves  of  bread  a  year,"  but  running  up  to 
very  solid  benefits.  The  freeman  who  for  bread  and 
clothes,  or,  in  those  old  times,  for  a  gambling  debt, 
went  into  voluntary  subjection  to  another  man  would 
be  in  any  event  better  treated  than  the  outright 
slave .2  The  church,  working  as  a  rule  on  lines  of 
humanity,  interfered  in  many  ways  to  help  the  bond- 
man and  make  his  lot  more  tolerable.  Private  agree- 
ment between  superior  and  inferior  would  further 
complicate  the  once  simple  conditions  and  create  new . 
degrees  of  servitude,^  with  a  general  drift  towards 
fixed  limits  of  work  for  corresponding  wages.  As 
the  Germanic  freeman  ceased  to  be  the  most  promi- 
nent factor  of  national  life,  the  freedman,  especially 
when  a  creature  of  the  king  or  of  some  high  official, 
became  more  and  more  important  and  could  rise,  like 
the  Roman  freedman,  to  exalted  office.  The  old 
noble,  the  old  freeman,  had  seen  their  day;  kings 
and  the  tools  of  kings  began  their  long  career. 

From  this  stage  of  the  freedman  let  us  look  back 


1  Found  in  a  single  law  of  ^Ethelberht,  which  fixes  a  laet's  wergild, 
Schmid,  p.  4. 

2  Tacitus,  with  a  touch  of  rhetoric,  says  that  shame  compelled  the 
winner  to  send  the  loser  into  a  distant  place,  as  he  could  ill  rejoice  in 
such  a  gain.    Germ.  XXIV.  s  i?.  ^.  335^  337, 


284 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


at  his  predecessor  in  the  days  of  Tacitus.^  "  The 
freedmen  (Jiherti),''  he  tells  us,  "stand  but  little 
above  the  slaves  ;  they  are  seldom  of  any  consequence 
in  the  house,  and  never  in  the  state,  if  we  except 
those  races  which  are  under  the  rule  of  kings,^  for 
there  the  freedmen  are  superior  to  noble  and  freeborn 
alike.  With  the  other  races,  however,  the  low  stand- 
ing of  the  freedmen  is  a  proof  of  liberty."  The 
freedman,  in  this  sense,  is  probably  of  common  Ger- 
manic origin  ;  at  least  he  is  found  in  historical  times 
among  all  Germanic  races  save  the  Gothic  and  Scan- 
dinavian.3 

Lowest  of  all  was  the  slave,  a  chattel,  with  no 
"man-worth"  at  all,  no  wergild.  The  murder  of  a 
slave  was  paid  for  as  one  now  pays  for  damages  in- 
flicted on  a  neighbor's  horses  or  cattle.  Yet  we  may 
be  sure  that  slaves  were  no  worse  off  in  barbarian 
Germany  than  in  civilized  Rome,  where  the  punish- 
ments inflicted  on  that  wretched  class  were  elabor- 
ately cruel.  German  slaves  had  no  such  artistic  and 
systematic  ill-treatment ;  they  might  be  killed  in  a  sud- 
den fury  of  the  master,  but  escaped  the  harder  persecu- 
tion of  joyless  years. ^  It  is  remotely  possible  —  though 
this  flight  needs  all  the  wings  of  romantic  fondness 
—  that  a  love  of  freedom,  the  intense  passion  for  ab- 
solute liberty  ©f  the  individual,  may  have  held  back 
many  a  freeborn  German  from  subjecting  his  slaves 

1  Germ.  XXIV.  By  liherti  Tacitus  probably  means  those  who  have 
acquired  freedom  in  whatever  way,  hardly  a  regular  class  of  the 
community. 

2  "Gentibus  quae  regnantur."  »  Waitz,  1. 154. 

*  Auglo-Saxon  ordinances  of  the  church  fixed  a  penance  for  the 
man  who  slew  his  serf  without  judicial  authority.  Kemble,  Saxons, 
1.209. 


SOCIAL   ORDER 


285 


to  scourge  and  torture.^  Again,  the  Germanic  slave 
had  some  solid  privileges  which  were  denied  to  his 
Roman  brother.  The  slave  lived  in  his  own  house, 
and  paid  his  owner  a  stated  rent  in  corn  or  cattle  or 
woven  garments ;  ^  and  there  is  a  note  of  domesticity 
in  the  Roman's  statement  that  a  German  serf  has  his 
own  household  gods,  and  rules  over  his  own  fireside, 
—  8U08  penates  regit.  Then  follows  the  remark  that 
a  German  seldom  beats  his  slaves,  or  puts  them,  in 
chains;  a  sudden  tempest  of  anger  will  make  him 
kill  his  serf,  but  slow  punishment  he  ignores.  The 
simple  conditions  of  German  life  required  no  army 
of  slaves,  no  elaborate  divisions  of  labor,  as  at  Rome. 
Where  it  was  possible,  Germans  sold  their  slaves  to 
more  civilized  masters,  as  the  Goths  sold  their  own 
conquered  kinsmen.  These  northern  giants  were 
sought  as  slaves  in  Rome ;  and  we  all  know  Beda's 
account  of  Gregory  and  the  fair-haired  Anglian 
youths  in  the  Roman  slave-market.  Slavery,  one 
may  say,  was  only  an  accident,  an  external  thing, 
in  the  Germanic  state ;  the  freeman  was  the  state, 
and  a  widely  ramified  system  of  slavery  would  have 
sapped  the  foundations  of  that  barbaric  strength. 
Splendid  is  the  tribute  which  Tacitus  pays  to  this 
Germanic  prowess  and  this  Germanic  freedom.^  "Not 
Samnites  nor  Carthaginians,  not  Spain  nor  Gaul,  not 
even  the  Parthians,  have  given  us  sharper  warnings. 
For  mightier  than  the  Parthian  throne  is  the  freedom 
of  the  Germans." 


1  Anglo-Saxon  slaves  were  cruelly  treated.    See  Wright,  Domestic 
Manners  and  Sentiments,  p.  56  f. 

2  Tac.  Germ.  XXV.   Later  duties  of  the  slave,  c/.  Grimm,  R.A.  350  fif. 
8  Germ,  XXXVII. 


286 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


The  chief  origin  of  slavery  must  be  looked  for,  as 
Grimm   remarks,   in   the   captivity   of   a   conquered 
tribe.     The  whole  race  of  Germans  may  have  sub- 
dued an  indigenous  population  at  the  settlement  of 
the  country;    those  "blond  long-heads,"  as  Huxley 
calls   them,   may   have    conquered   ''brunet    broad- 
heads  "  or  what  not,  and  so  have  laid  the  foundations 
of  their  slave  system  ;  but  this  can  be  neither  proved 
nor  disproved.  ^     In  historical  times,  the  more  capa- 
ble and  intelligent  prisoners  of  war  were  used  or  sold 
as  slaves,  after  a  definite  number  had  been  sacrificed 
to  the  gods.     Years  after  the   victory  of  Arminius 
over  Varus  and  the  legions,  Romans  taken  at   the 
battle  were  found  serving  as  slaves  among  their  Ger- 
man captors.     Children  of  such  captives  would  natu- 
rally form  a  class  of  serfs  ;  and  even  in  cases  where 
one  of  them  married  a  freeborn  person,  the  offspring, 
as  we  have  seen  above,  would  in  most  cases  count  as 
slaves.  2     Indeed,  to  marry  an  unfree  person  often  led 
to  slavery.     Again,  we  may  add  to  these  causes  of 
serfdom  the  too  common  cases  where    hunorer  and 
destitution  forced  a  man  to  give   up  his   freedom. 
Kemble  quotes  a  case  where  an  Anglo-Saxon  lady  in 
her  will  frees  all  those  who  had  been  forced  into  slav- 
ery through  poverty  and  hunger  —  "all  who  in  the 
evil  days  had  bent  their  heads  for  food."^     Hopeless 
debt  made  many  a  slave ;  and  the  descent  from  free- 
dom into  thraldom  was  facile  enough.     The  church 
and   the   laws,   while   they   enjoin   forbearance   and 

1  See  also  Waitz,  1. 158.  2  j?.  ^.  324. 

8  Saxons,  I.  196.  For  other  causes  cf.  B.  A.  330  f.  For  legendary 
accounts  of  the  origin  of  slavery,  see,  of  course,  Rigamdl  and  references 
of  Elze,  Englische  Philologie,  p.  212. 


SOCIAL  ORDER 


287 


mercy  as  far  as  possible,  make  no  question  of  the  fact 
itself.  A  law  of  -^thelred,  repeated  by  Cnut,  runs 
as  follows  in  Cnut's  version:  "And  we  command 
that  one  shall  not  all  too  easily  sell  Christian  men 
out  of  the  country,  certainly  not  send  them  among 
the  heathen ;  but  let  it  be  seen  to  that  the  souls 
which  Christ  has  redeemed  with  his  own  life  be  not 
brought  to  destruction."  ^ 

The  sign  of  the  slave  was  his  close-cut  hair,  and, 
often,  the  marks  of  mutilation  in  his  face,  "  A  slit 
nose  is  the  mark  of  a  thrall,"  says  Scandinavian  law.^ 
Slaves  were  maimed  or  lamed  for  the  sake  of  secur- 
ity, though  this  precaution  must  have  been  sporadic 
among  the  Germans ;  the  capture  of  a  whole  army, 
for  instance,  may  have  made  necessary  something  of 
the  sort.  We  may  be  sure  that  no  sentiment  would 
have  forbidden  it.  The  slave  had  no  family  name. 
He  wore  short,  scanty  garments,  with  dull  colors  and 
rough  material.  He  bore  no  weapons ;  had  no  right 
to  go  away  from  his  master's  land;  and  naturally 
took  no  part  in  the  popular  assembly,  whether  to  vote 
as  a  citizen,  or  to  prosecute  as  an  accuser  in  process 
of  the  rude  civil  law.  He  could  marry  only  with  the 
consent  of  his  lord,  and  in  that  case  even  was  obliged 
to  pay  a  marriage-tax.  It  is  perhaps  well  to  note 
that  recent  investigation  has  exploded  several  vener- 
able legal  fictions  about  the  Germanic  slave ;  for  ex- 
ample, that  bit  of  historical  horse-play,  the  theory  of 
a  jus  primce  noctis,^ 


1  Schmid,  pp.  2T2,  228.  In  the  earlier  law  there  is  a  proviso,  "  unless 
the  person  have  duly  forfeited  his  liberty."  2  ^.  ^,  339, 

8  See  Kemble's  account  of  Anglo-Saxon  slaves,  Saxons,  Chap.  VIIL, 
and  especially  p.  214. 


288 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


289 


A  peculiar  position  was  that  of  the  stranger  or 
visitor  in  a  Germanic  community.  He  is  called  "  the 
far-comer,"  or  simply  "  comer,"  "  stranger,"  "  he  who 
has  come  over  the  mark " ;  one  name  for  him,  "guest," 
is  the  same  word  as  Latin  hostis^  which  so  easily  passed 
from  "  stranger  "  into  "  enemy."  German  elender  and 
English  "  wretch  "  have  acquired  their  present  mean- 
ing from  the  connotation  of  the  older  words  which 
meant  nothing  more  than  an  "  outlandish  "  man,  an 
exile.  Originally  such  a  stranger  had  no  legal  pro- 
tection whatever;  he  was  dependent  on  individual 
hospitality,^  and  otherwise  was  subject  to  maltreat- 
ment and  eventual  slavery.  In  some  cases  the  old 
laws  enjoin  hospitality  as  a  part  of  private  if  not  pub- 
lic morals ;  and  the  binding  law  of  three  nights'  en- 
tertainment we  have  already  noticed.^  It  is  a  proof 
of  the  artistic  design  of  Tacitus  that  he  sets  the  hos- 
pitality of  the  old  Germans  so  sharply  and  immedi- 
ately in  contrast  with  their  family  feuds. 

Little  by  little,  as  commerce  increased,  and  the 
stranger  was  oftener  seen  in  Germanic  lands,  stability 
and  development  of  trade  made  it  necessary  to  pro- 
tect him.  This  right,  or  duty,  fell  upon  the  king ; 
royal  protection  was  extended  to  the  foreigner  and 
laws  were  passed  in  his  favor.  The  king  was  thus 
the  guardian  of  all  wayfaring  men  from  other  lands ; 
he  was  their  mundhora^  and  therefore  had  a  right  to 
their  estates,  later  to  a  part  of  their  personal  prop- 
erty. With  the  settled  international  life  of  mediaeval 
Europe,  the  stranger  becomes  in  every  nation  a  per- 
manent object  of  legal  protection. 

1  R.  A.  396  ff.    Schmid,  Ges.  d.  Ags.  s.v.  ♦♦  Fremde,"  p.  582. 
a  Above,  p.  163. 


CHAPTER  X 

GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 

Gifts,  not  taxes  —  Organization  of  government  —  Elements  of 
monarchy  and  of  democracy  —  Popular  councils  and  assemblies  — 
The  town-meeting  —  Legal  system  —  The  function  of  priests  in 
civil  administration  —  Punishments  for  crime  — Forms  of  law  — 
Ordeal  and  trial  by  battle. 

In  Germany  and  certain  other  European  states, 
where  every  sound  man  must  learn  to  use  weapons 
and  fight  at  need  for  his  fatherland,  military  duty 
would  perhaps  stand  first  in  a  list  of  the  good  citizen's 
obligations  to  his  country.  But  we  may  be  very  sure 
that  the  second  duty  would  be  to  pay  one's  taxes. 
This  the  early  German  did  not  do,^  but  instead  he 
made  presents  to  his  chieftain,  sending  him  goodly 
gifts  in  corn  or  cattle.  We  know  how  long  the  excel- 
lent memory  of  monarchs  treasured  up  this  custom ; 
Queen  Elizabeth,  we  are  told,  took  care  that  what 
she  received  on  a  New  Year's  day  should  always 
largely  exceed  her  own  benefactions.^  Yet  these  gifts 
of  the  early  German  were  presents  pure  and  simple, 
no  taxes,  no  prerogative  of  the  prince.  Even  of 
booty  and  plunder  in  war  the  king  might  take  no 
more  than  his  share  as  a  warrior,  and  the  division 


1  Oerm,  XV. 


2  Brand,  Antiquities,  *'  New  Year's  Day." 


290 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT   AND  LAW 


291 


was  not  one  of  choice :  all  was  left  to  the  lots.  It  is 
on  the  margin  between  the  old  dispensation  and  the 
new  rule  of  kings  that  we  meet  that  famous  vase  of 
Soissons.  A  bishop  asks  the  mighty  leader  of  the 
Franks  for  a  vase  of  extraordinary  beauty  which  had 
been  taken  with  other  plunder  from  the  church.  The 
king  promises  it  to  the  bishop  if  it  fall  to  the  royal 
lot  —  no  very  near  chance ;  however,  he  goes  to  his 
warriors  and  begs  the  vase  as  a  favor  to  royalty,  not 
at  all  as  a  right.  The  warriors  assent ;  but  one  man, 
striking  the  vase  with  his  battle-axe,  cries  out,  ''Claim 
nothing  but  thy  lot!"  The  king  takes  no  steps 
against  this  gross  defiance,  but  contents  himself  with 
sending  the  vase  to  the  bishop;  until,  at  the  next 
great  assembly  of  the  nation,  and  before  the  whole 
army,  he  fells  the  objector  to  the  earth,  crying, 
"That  for  thy  blow  upon  the  vase  at  Soissons!" 
No  one  dared  a  word  or  act  of  protest.^ 

Conquered  land  was  at  first  shared  in  this  fashion ; 2 
but  later,  as  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  king  took 
a  special  part  for  himself.  The  old  maxim,  how- 
ever, held  the  freeman  exempt  from  all  taxation: 
frei  mann,  it  said,  frei  gut?  What  was  not  exacted 
by  direct  law  came,  nevertheless,  to  be  demanded 
by  custom  as  well  as  by  the  growing  importance  of 
the  king.  In  addition  to  yearly  gifts,  there  was 
imposed  upon  freemen  the  necessity  to  entertain 
and  harbor  the  sovereign  with  his  retinue,  to  aid 
him  in  war,  and  to  contribute  horses  and  wagons 
for  the  royal  need.  Little  by  little,  custom  hard- 
ened into  law  and  recognized  the  definite  nature 
of  taxes ;  among  the  earliest  of  these  direct  burdens 


1  Gregor.  Tur.  II.  27. 


2  /?.  ^.  246  f. 


8  Ibid.  297. 


on  land,  Grimm  counts  the  church  tithes.^  Nor  was 
this  taxation,  even  in  its  milder  form,  altogether 
without  the  consent  of  the  taxpayer.  He  was  repre- 
sented, or  else  took  a  direct  part,  in  the  councils  of 
his  nation.  Every  freeman  was  member  of  this 
General  Court.^  Whether  these  popular  assemblies 
counted  for  more  or  for  less  than  the  royal  authority, 
is  a  perplexing  question,  and  historians  have  had  no 
difficulty  in  seeing  now  a  monarchy  and  now  a  re- 
public in  the  old  Germanic  communities.  We  do  not 
know  how  far  judicial  and  executive  organization  had 
made  progress,  nor  how  many  elements  of  the  modern 
state  were  present.  Probably,  when  Tacitus  wrote, 
there  was  a  fairly  organized  government,  —  if  such  a 
name  may  be  applied  to  a  community  so  loosely 
united, — since  it  often  took  three  days  for  the  popu- 
lar assembly  to  come  together  at  the  season  of  new 
or  full  moon,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  with 
Holtzmann  that  this  could  not  have  been  the  case 
with  members  of  a  single  canton.  Wider  groups 
indicate  firmer  organization ;  ^  probably  we  are  not 
far  out  of  the  way  when  we  assume  that  the  early 
Germanic  state  inclined  to  democracy  in  peace  and  to 
a  monarchy  in  war.  The  continental  Saxon  village 
had  a  sort  of  governor  who  ruled  over  his  own  dis- 
trict while  peace  was  maintained:  when  war  broke 
out,  these  governors,  or,  as  Beda  calls  them,  satraps, 

1  R.  A,  300. 

2  For  the  later  decline  of  the  Germanic  freeman,  especially  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  see  Stubhs,  earlier  pages;  and  also  Green,  Short  History,  p.  90. 

8  See  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  I.  26  flf.;  Waitz,  Verfassungsgesch.  I. 
201  ff.;  and  such  works  as  Seebohm's  Village  Communities;  G.  L. 
Gomme's  Primitive  Folk  Moots ;  and  the  valuable  studies  of  Professor 
E.  A.  Freeman  in  books  and  essays. 


292 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


293 


chose  by  lot  one  of  their  own  number  for  the  supreme 
command,  which  lasted  until  the  close  of  hostilities. ^ 

Popular  government  was  clearly  recognized  even 
by  the  later  kings,  who  went  through  the  form  of 
appealing  to  the  great  council  for  sanction  of  the 
royal  deeds.  In  BSowulf  we  read  of  the  Danish 
king  sitting  with  his  council  in  anxious  deliberation 
how  they  may  resist  the  attacks  of  Grendel.^  Alfred 
tells  us  that  he  drew  up  his  code  of  laws  with  the 
advice  of  his  Witan:^  Among  the  Saxons  and  Fri- 
sians, where  Roman  influence  was  never  strong,  and 
where  we  may  find  the  origin  of  our  own  institutions, 
"  local  self-government "  seems  to  have  been  the  rule 
whenever  the  nation  was  at  peace.  The  northwest- 
ern districts  of  Germany  have  always  shown  more 
or  less  republican  spirit;  though  an  irresistible  cur- 
rent swept  them  —  with  what  difficulty,  Charlemagne 
could  tell  —  into  the  grasp  of  monarchy.  This 
change  and  concentration  of  government  is  very 
marked.  Dahn  notes  that  at  the  great  battle  in  357, 
Alamannians  had  twelve  so-called  "-  kings,"  evidently 
mere  local  leaders ;  whereas  in  the  fight  against  the 
Franks  in  496  there  was  only  one  king  of  the 
Alamannians. 

In  the  time  of  Tacitus,  general  government  rested 
in  the  assembly  or  moot  (Anglo-Saxon,  gemdt)  of 
larger  and  smaller  districts.  The  exact  nature  of 
these  districts  —  canton,  hundred,  mark,  community, 
what  not  —  has  been  the  subject  of  much  discussion ; 
but  it  seems  clear  enough  that  representative  bodies 
carried  on  such  government,  local  or  general,  as  ex- 

1  See  the  whole  passage,  Beda,  Hist.  Ecc.  V.  10,  and  above,  p.  271. 

2  Beow.  171  f.  8  Schmid,  p.  68. 


isted  outside  of  the  conduct  of  war.  The  folk-moot 
was  the  central  fact  of  public  life  and  public  inter- 
ests ;  ^  and  the  Campus  Martins  of  the  Carlovingians, 
the  shire-moot,  the  town-meeting,  are  continued  and 
different  forms  of  the  same  old  institution.  The  priv- 
ilege of  belonging  to  this  primitive  body  was  rated 
high;  the  right  of  attendance  was  withdrawn  from 
no  freemen  whatever  save  only  those  who  had  been 
guilty  of  the  crime  of  crimes  and  had  left  their 
shields  upon  the  field  of  battle  .^  The  meetings  of  the 
tribes  were  held  at  full  or  new  moon ;  ^  but  for  the 
larger  assemblies,  where  a  whole  race  convened, 
two  meetings  in  the  year  were  probably  sufficient, 
and  naturally  coincided  with  the  times  of  the  great 
heathen  feasts.^  Daytime  —  "holy  is  the  day"  — 
was  the  legal  limit  of  session.  The  summons  for  an 
extraordinary  assembly  may  have  been,  as  in  later 
times,  a  stick,  an  arrow,  or  the  like ;  perhaps  even  a 
hammer  for  the  court.^  The  place  of  meeting  was 
under  the  open  sky,  high  and  prominent ;  and  was  at 
or  near  some  place  sacred  to  the  gods  —  mountain, 
meadow,  fountain,  tree.  Even  the  high-road  was  a 
favorite  place.  Local  assemblies  in  England  and 
elsewhere  were  held  by  preference  under  sacred  and 
memorial  trees,  of  which  the  chief  are  linden,  oak, 
and  ash.^ 


1  Waitz,  I.  338.  ^  Prsecipuum  flagitium ;  Tac.  Germ.  VI. 

8  The  Anglo-Saxon  hundred  met  monthly.  Schmid,  p.  595,  under 
gemdt. 

*  Lippert  thinks  the  origin  of  the  general  council  was  the  nomadic 
spring  meeting  of  tribes  before  the  herds  were  driven  out  to  pasture. 
Christentwn,  Volksbrauch  u.  Volksglaube,  p.  583  ff. 

6  Waitz,  I.  345 ;  Kemble,  Saxons,  1.  55. 

6  G.  L.  Gomme,  Primitive  Folk  Moots, 


294 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


What  was  done  at  these  assemblies?  Naturally, 
business  varied  with  the  size  and  character  of  the 
gathering.  Tacitus  tells  us  of  an  embassy  sent  by 
one  German  tribe  to  another,  and  received  in  full 
assembly,  where  proposals  were  considered  regarding 
a  combined  and  systematic  opposition  to  Roman 
rule.i  Further,  we  are  told  in  the  Germania  that 
important  matters  were  discussed  by  the  people, 
minor  affairs  by  the  chieftains;  and  as  in  modern 
times,  so  then,  we  may  be  sure  that  influential  men 
knew  how  to  guide  the  sentiment  of  the  meeting. 
Executive  or  presiding  officers  were  few  and  of 
vague  functions;  there  was  little  need  for  such 
men  when  individual  freedom  was  so  great  and  the 
execution  of  law  so  limited.  Of  ancient  origin,  we 
may  assume,  was  the  town-reeve,^  for  he  is  men- 
tioned among  the  old  Saxons  as  the  viilieus,^  which  is 
the  same  as  Alfred's  tUngerefa.  He  was  probably 
elected  by  the  smaller  community,  and  presided  over 
its  councils :  over  the  larger  assembly  presided  a  high 
official  —  prince  or  even  king. 

The  assembly  was  under  the  protection  of  the  tri- 
bal gods,  and  was  opened  by  a  command  of  silence 
from  the  priests,  who  thus  imposed  conditions  of 
peace  upon  the  gathering.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Old  Norse  Voluspa,  "  The  Sibyl's  Prophecy,"  we  find 
this  solemn  call  for  silence  on  the  part  of  all  peace- 
loving  mortals :  "  Be  silent,  all  men,  high  and  low." 
Moreover,  the  priests,  as  executives  of  divine  com- 
mand, had  power  to  punish  such  as  might  defy  their 
authority,  and  through  their  persons  insult  the  maj- 
esty of  the  patron  gods.     The  session  thus  opened, 


1  Hist.  IV.  64. 


2  Waitz,  1. 136. 


3  Beda,  Hist.  Ecc.  V.  10. 


li 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


295 


distinguished  men  of  the  tribe  are  heard  in  behalf  of 
whatever  proposition  is  before  the  meeting.  If  the 
people  approve  a  man's  speech  or  recommendation, 
they  clash  their  weapons  lustily  together ;  if  they  dis- 
approve and  dissent,  there  is  an  ominous  murmur.^ 

Religious  ceremonies  were  doubtless  abundant  at 
such  a  meeting.  The  custom  of  casting  lots,  de- 
scribed by  Tacitus,^  is  under  the  charge  of  the  state- 
priest  "  if  it  is  upon  a  public  occasion."  An  example 
of  the  use  of  such  lots  in  deciding  a  public  question 
is  quoted  by  Waitz  ^  from  the  Vita  Anskarii.  A 
king  of  Sweden  consults  the  gods  by  lots  to  see 
whether  or  not  he  shall  allow  Anskar  to  bring  for- 
ward his  plea  for  Christianity.  The  judgment  is 
favorable,  and  the  king  submits  to  his  people  the 
question  of  a  new  religion.  Many  other  ceremonies 
of  divination  and  enchantment  even  were  doubtless 
common  at  such  an  assembly,  but  are  more  properly 
considered  under  the  head  of  religious  rites. 

Aside  from  religion  and  diplomacy,  the  business  of 
these  meetings  must  have  partaken  largely  of  a  legal 
character.^  With  the  exception  of  small  villages, 
every  district  made  a  court  out  of  its  general  assem- 
bly ;  ^  and  it  is  Grimm's  opinion  ^  that  the  whole  assem- 
bly of  freemen  heard  and  judged  such  causes  as  came 
before  them,  —  questions  of  public  interest,  transfer 
of  land,  settlement  of  personal  disputes  over  property, 
the  enfranchisement  of  slaves,  the  award  of  wergild, 
the  ceremony  of  a  free  youth's  admittance  to  the  privi- 

1  Tac.  Ger.  XI.  2  ibid.  X.  8  j.  350. 

*  Sir  H.  Maine  says  that  the  court  of  the  Hundred  is  the  oldest  of  the 
organized  Germanic  courts.    Early  Law  and  Custom,  p.  169. 
6  Waitz,  I.  339.  6  r,  a.  745. 


i 


296 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT   AND  LAW 


297 


leges  of  citizenship,  and  similar  affairs.     Something 
of  this  same  sort  was  the  Icelandic  Thing,    An  officer 
presided  over  the  Germanic  court,  a  sort  of  judge, 
whose  token  of  office  was  a  staff,  mostly  white  in 
color,!  and  who  often  sat  upon  a  conspicuous  seat 
hewn  out  of  stone.     Some  curious  old  laws  enforce 
upon  a  popular  judge  that  he  shall  sit  with  one  leg 
over  the  other ;  and  other  laws,  not  so  curious,  insist 
that  he  shall  keep  himself  clear  of  drunkenness.     In 
such  courts  of  the  historical  period,  the  judge  faced 
the  east ;  on  his  right  was  the  plaintiff*,  and  on  his 
left  the  defendant,  who  thus  had  to  take  the  north,  a 
quarter  of  bad  omen.^     True,  these  are  late  customs, 
but  their  roots  not  improbably  strike  well  into  the 
most  ancient  judicial  practice.     Doubtless,  too,  many 
old  ceremonies  were  retained  by  the  famous   Vehni" 
gericlit  of  Westphalia,   to   which   we   have   already 
referred,  —  that  Vigilance  Committee  in  the  grand 
style  which  served  as  almost  the  only  curb  upon  a 
lawless  age;  which,  like  its  prototype,  the  old  Ger- 
manic   assembly,   held    court   under  free   sky,   had 
no  secret  chambers,  no  tortures,  and   executed   its 
decrees  with  unerring  certainty  by  hanging  the  con- 
victed offender  to  the  nearest  living  tree.^    Nor  are 
the  collections  of   Germanic  law  so  very  recent  in 
date.      The   earliest   codes   were    probably   poetical 
(alliterative)  in  character  so  as  to  be  more  readily 
retained   by   the    memory.      The    Goths   had   their 
system  of  laws  ;  but  the  earliest  Germanic  code  pre- 
served to  us  is  the  Salic  Law,  about  which  so  much 

1  B,  A.  761.  2  R,  A.  808. 

3  For  a  salutary  rebuke  of  the  nonsense  written  about  Vehmgerichte, 
see  Dr.  Wachter's  little  book  already  cited,  p.  63  f. 


misunderstanding  has  been  spread  abroad:  it  dates 
from  the  fifth  century. 

Although  Tacitus  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  priests  were  charged  with  the  execution  of  de- 
crees, as  well  as  with  ordinary  punishments,  a  recent 
writer  is  very  decided  in  his  assertion  that  common 
law  as  administered  by  these  courts  was  a  matter  of 
tradition  and  the  direct  affair  of  each  voting  and 
deliberating  freeman.  Much  of  the  sacredness  at- 
taching to  law,  he  says,  has  been  the  result  of  Chris- 
tianity and  was  foreign  to  our  heathen  system.  Nor 
was  there,  he  adds,  any  hieratic  monopoly  of  law ;  it 
was  not  kept,  recorded,  and  interpreted  by  priests.^ 
Nevertheless,  we  know  on  the  authority  of  Tacitus 
that  the  priests  were  its  executors.  A  pretty  Frisian 
legend  records  the  sacred  sanction  of  law.  King 
Karl  orders  twelve  men  to  be  chosen  from  Frisian 
land  in  order  that  they  may  determine  what  is  law  in 
Frisia.  Unable  to  do  as  he  bids,  these  twelve  men 
beg  a  respite,  but  after  a  week  are  still  in  doubt. 
Then  Karl  declares  them  doomed  to  death,  but  allows 
them  to  be  set  in  a  boat  without  sail  or  oar,  and  ex- 
posed to  the  sea.  They  beg  God  for  help  and  ask 
him  to  send  a  thirteenth  man  to  them  (as  Christ  was 
to  the  disciples)  to  teach  them  what  they  need  to 
know.  Suddenly  this  thirteenth  one  is  sitting  among 
them.  He  rows  them  to  land  with  a  bit  of  wood, 
strikes  the  ground  and  causes  a  spring  of  water  to 
gush  forth,  and  proceeds  to  teach  them  all  the  law. 
This,  thinks  Richthofen,  points  to  the  old  heathen 
customs,  when  a  priest  set  forth  the  law.^     Similar 

1  Von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2.  41. 

2  Richthofen,  Friesische  Rechtsgeschichte,  II.  456,  459,  488. 


298 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


299 


tl 


I 


conclusions  may  be  drawn  in  regard  to  Iceland. 
This  Asega,  Judex,  Sapiens,  —  by  all  these  names 
the  Frisian  interpreter  of  law  is  called,  —  seems  to 
have  a  genuine  heathen  pedigree  ;  he  was  the  local 
magistrate  of  old.^ 

Cases  of  public  punishment  are  given  by  Tacitus 
and  have  been  mentioned  here  under  the  head  of 
cowardice  in  war.^  The  offender  could  be  declared 
an  outlaw,  "  vogelfreir  as  in  the  case  when  a  murderer 
refused  to  give  satisfaction  of  any  sort.  Moreover, 
there  remain  in  modern  collections  traces  of  older 
laws  which  prescribe  frightful  forms  of  death ;  these 
horrors  are  nevertheless  traditional  and  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  enforced  in  historical  times.^  But 
certain  modes  of  execution,  terrible  enough,  may  be 
followed  far  back  in  Germanic  records;  such  were 
death  on  the  wheel,  decapitation,  stoning,  trampling 
to  death  by  wild  horses,  burial  alive,  flinging  from  a 
rock,  drowning,  burning,  exposure  to  wild  animals, 
and,  for  coast-dwellers,  sending  to  sea  in  a  leaking 
boat.  In  the  north,  a  barbarous  custom  called  "  carv- 
ing the  eagle  " — that  is,  on  the  back  of  the  victim  — 
finds  frequent  mention.  Milder  punishments  were 
known,  and  records  of  the  early  middle  ages  tell  of 
cutting  off  a  victim's  hair,  which  thus  deprived  him 
of  his  external  sign  of  freedom ;  whipping,  —  a  pen- 

1  Richthofen,  Friesische  Rechtsgeschichte,  482.  2  Qerm.  XII. 

^  R.  A.  682.  Enforced,  however,  were  the  elaborate  punishments  for 
him  who  profaned  a  temple  of  the  gods.  In  Frisian  law  such  a  criminal 
"  ducitur  ad  mare,  et  in  sabulo,  quod  accessus  maris  operire  solet,  fin- 
duntur  aures  ejus  et  castratur,  et  immolatur  diis  quorum  templa  vio- 
lavit."    Richthofen,  Fries.  Rechtsges.  II.  507.   Compare  Tempest,  1. 1 :  — 

would  thou  raightst  lie  drowning, 
The  washing  of  ten  tides. 


alty  reserved  for  slaves;  flaying;  cutting  off  hand 
and  foot,  nose,  ears,  or  lips;  blinding;  cutting  out 
the  tongue ;  breaking  out  the  teeth ;  branding,  and 
other  less  violent  forms,  down  to  a  mere  reproof 
by  the  proper  authorities.^  The  Anglo-Saxon  laws 
are  very  explicit  in  the  definition  and  gradation 
of  crimes ;  but  while  many  penalties  of  mutilation 
occur,  most  of  the  punishments  are  in  terms  of 
money  paid  as  fine  and  tvergild.  Adjustment  of  the 
wergild  must  have  taken  up  much  of  the  time  in 
these  assembly-courts.  Fines  were  assessed  —  about 
collection  we  cannot  feel  so  sure  —  upon  criminals  of 
every  grade ;  and  great  complication  arose  from  the 
difference  made  in  the  amount  according  to  the  rank 
of  the  injured  party.  Even  verbal  injuries  and  attacks 
upon  honor  or  reputation  were  punished  by  fine,  and 
this  in  some  of  the  early  Anglo-Saxon  codes ;  to  call 
a  man  a  perjurer,  for  example,  or  to  heap  abuse  upon 
him  in  the  house  of  another,  is  punished  by  a  fine  of 
one  shilling  to  the  owner  of  the  house,  six  shillings  to 
the  insulted  person,  and  twelve  shillings  to  the  king.^ 
Should  royalty  be  even  remotely  concerned,  the  fine 
is  increased.  "  If  the  king  drink  at  a  man's  house 
and  any  one  shall  commit  wrong  there,  this  one  is  to 
pay  double  fine."  —  "  If  a  freeman  steal  from  the  king, 
let  him  pay  ninefold."  ^  This  is,  of  course,  no  crite- 
rion for  primitive  relations  ;  but  we  are  distinctly  told 
by  Tacitus  that  the  Germans  of  his  day  had  a  system 
of  fines  which  were  assessed  in  terms  of  cattle.*  For 
less  serious  offences  than  those  for  which  death  was 
imposed,  he   says,   there  is  a  scale  of  punishments 


1  For  details,  R.  A.  680  ff. 

3  Laws  of  JEthelberht,  Schmid,  p.  2. 


2  Schmid,  p.  12,  §  11. 
*  Germ.  XII. 


300 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


graded  according  to  the  crime,  with  fines  in  horses  or 
cattle  ;  a  part  of  these  fines  is  paid  to  the  king  or  to 
the  community,  a  part  to  the  injured  person  or  his 
relatives.     Thus  we  see  a  state  of  affairs  distinctly 
analogous  to  the  system  of  Anglo-Saxon  codes.     It 
is  an  Aryan  tendency  to  distinguish  carefully  between 
crime  and  crime  and  to  shade  the  punishment  in  heav- 
ier or  lighter  fashion.     Even  among  the  Franks,  Salic 
law  interposes  to  protect  woman  from  insult,  and  lays 
fines  upon  the  man  who  may  take  liberties  with  her 
person :  according  as  he  grasps  her  forearm  or  upper 
arm  or  touches  her  breast,  he  pays  1200,  1400,  and 
1800  denarii,  and  if  he  knocks  off  her  head-dress,  the 
fine  is  fifteen  solidi,^     Moreover,  apart  from  the  fine 
or  "  damages,"  which  make  restitution  to  the  sufferer, 
there  was  something  like  our  modern  fine,  the  wite  of 
Anglo-Saxon  law,  which  had  to  be  paid  to  the  state.^ 
The   freeman,   the   citizen,   was   the    person   who 
made  the  laws  and  for  whose  sake  they  existed ;  but 
there  was  a  class  of  people  outside  the  protection  of 
law.     Such  were  abandoned   criminals   in   the   first 
instance,  and  then  those  people  who  followed  any 
despised  occupation,  the  professional  fighter  or  cham- 
pion,  wandering    minstrels   and  mountebanks,   beg- 
gars, tramps ;  later,  illegitimate  children ;  and  latest 
(towards  the  end  of  the  middle  ages),  the  hangman.^ 
Allusion  has  been  made  already  to  the  shy  advances 
undertaken  by  law  upon  the  domain  of  feud  and  pri- 

1  Lex.  Sal.  c.  75.  The  late  Thomas  Wright  quotes  this  and  more  in 
his  Womankind  in  Western  Europe,  p.  38. 

2  The  relative  amount  of  respect  paid  to  law  by  the  different  Ger- 
manic tribes  is  not  easy  to  fix.  For  general  lawlessness  the  Franks 
must  claim  precedence.    See  Von  Loebell,  Gregor  v.  Tours,  pp.  35-57. 

«  Von  Amira  in  Paul's  Grdr.  II.  2. 123. 


GOVERNMENT   AND  LAW 


301 


vate  warfare.  Among  such  advances  we  must  count 
the  duel  and  trial  by  battle ;  these  were  in  all  probabil- 
ity carried  on  before  the  full  assembly  of  the  people. 
Tacitus  tells  us  of  a  case  where  combat  between  two 
champions  —  a  captive  from  one  army,  a  soldier  from 
the  other  —  was  thought  to  foreshadow  the  event  of 
war,  a  sort  of  divination.^  Oaths,  too,  must  have  been 
taken,  along  with  an  appeal  to  heaven,  when  the  com- 
bat was  of  a  judicial  nature.  In  Scandinavia,  the 
accused  as  well  as  the  accuser  grasped  the  holy  ring 
stained  with  sacrificial  blood,  and  made  oath ;  while 
a  late  survival  caused  the  same  persons  to  swear 
upon  the  boar's  head. 

Another  ceremony  which  was  probably  carried  out 
before  one  of  these  general  assemblies  was  the  ordeal .^ 
Jacob  Grimm  thinks  that  the  ordeal,  wliich  concerns 
itself  with  past  or  present,  just  as  the  oracle  is  busied 
with  the  future,  was  of  remote  heathen  origin;^  and 
Mr.  E.  B.  Tylor  approves  Jamieson's  derivation  of 
our  phrase  "  to  haul  over  the  coals  "  from  the  time- 
honored  rite  of  passing  through  the  fire.*  The  grave 
injustice  of  the  ordeal,  falling  heavily  upon  accused 
persons,  who  were  dependent  on  a  miracle  for  the 
establishment  of  their  innocence,  has  led  Grimm  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  early  middle  ages  seldom 
applied  this  test  in  the  case  of  freemen.  A  freeman 
took  oath  of  innocence ;  while  the  slave  and  the 
dependent  were  driven  to  the  terrors  of  the  ordeal. 
Precisely  so,  in  later  days,  it  was  the  witches,  mostly 

1  Oerm.  X. 

2  See  Dahn,  BausteinCf  II.  1-75,  "  Studien  zur  Geschichte  der  ger- 
man.  Gottesurtheile." 

8  R.  A.  909.  4  Primitive  Culture,  I.  85. 


302 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


303 


w 


from  the  poorest  classes  of  the  population,  who  were 
compelled  to  undergo  the  ordeal  by  water  or  by 
fire.  In  the  old  heathen  times,  however,  it  must 
have  been  prescribed  for  all  classes  of  society.  A 
queen  herself  submits  to  it  in  what  has  been  called 
"the  best  and  earliest  description  of  a  heathen 
ordeal."  It  is  Gudrun  purging  herself  from  the 
charge  of  adultery.  In  sight  of  the  court,  —  "  seven 
hundred  men  came  into  the  hall  to  see  the  king's 
wife  deal  with  the  cauldron,"  —  she  dips  her  hand 
to  the  bottom  of  the  boiling  water,  and  unhurt  takes 
out  the  stones.  Then  the  accuser  is  forced  to  undergo 
the  trial,  and  is  badly  scalded.^  The  ordeal  was  so 
strongly  founded  upon  popular  approval  that  the 
church  was  forced  to  recognize  it  along  with  many 
another  suspicious  ceremony .^ 

Of  the  different  kinds  of  ordeal,  we  may  note  the 
thrusting  of  one's  hand  directly  into  the  fire,  walking 
through  the  flames,  seizing  a  red-hot  iron  with  naked 
hand;  fetching  with  bared  arm  a  stone  or  ring  from 
the  bottom  of  a  kettle  filled  with  boiling  water ;  being 
flung  into  pond  or  river,  with  the  condition  that  float- 
ing means  guilt  and  sinking  innocence,  —  an  alterna- 
tive mocked  in  certain  verses  of  Hudihras;  and  pass- 
ing before  the  corpse  of  a  murdered  man,  with  the 
expectation  that  the  body  will  begin  to  bleed  at  the 
approach  of  the  murderer,  —  as  in  the  Nibelungen 

1  Vigfusson-Powell,  C.  P.  B.  I.  322  f.,  561. 

2  A  Frisian  legend  makes  the  "  good  "  King  Karl  and  the  heathen 
King  Redbad  enter  upon  an  ordeal  to  decide  ownership  of  Frisian  terri- 
tory :  who  can  longer  remain  still  shall  conquer.  Twelve  hours  long 
they  stand  motionless.  Then  Karl  drops  his  glove;  Redbad  picks  it  up, 
and  loses,  as  Karl  exclaims,  "  Thou  art  my  *  man '! "  See  Richthofen, 
Fries.  Eechtsges.  II.  418. 


II 


Lay,  where  Siegfried  lies  upon  the  bier,  and  the  kings, 
and  Hagen  his  murderer,  enter  the  church  :  — 

And  all  denied  the  murder ;  but  Kriemhilt  cried  in  teen,  — 
"  Whoso  would  prove  him  guiltless  may  let  it  now  be  seen. 
In  presence  of  the  people  let  him  approach  the  bier, 
And  stand  before  the  murdered  man,  and  truth  shall  then  be 
clear." 

That  is  a  mickle  wonder,  whene'er  before  the  dead 
(Ye  see  it  yet  full  often)  the  murderer  is  led. 
Again  the  wounds  gin  bleeding :  and  so  it  happened  here. 
The  guilt  of  Hagen  on  this  wise  right  plainly  did  appear. 

The  w^ounds  they  fell  a-bleeding,  as  they  had  done  before.  ,  .  J 

The  Anglo-Saxon  laws  show  the  ordeal  purely  as 
an  appeal  to  God's  judgment,  and  prescribe  various 
religious  preparations  in  addition  to  the  judicial  pro- 
cedure.2  The  most  remarkable  of  these  Old  English 
ordeals  was  the  so-called  corsnced,  where  a  piece  of 
bread  or  cheese  —  later  it  was  the  consecrated  bread 
of  the  church  —  was  swallowed  by  the  accused,  with 
the  idea  that  a  guilty  person  must  choke  in  the 
attempt.  It  was  noted  whether  the  swallower  trembled 
and  turned  pale  in  his  attempt ;  and  a  prayer  was 
often  put  up  that  if  he  was  guilty,  his  throat  and 
digestive  organs  might  fail  to  perforin  their  office.^ 

The  foregoing  tests  require  but  one  person :  the 
trial   by   battle    brought   both    parties    into    action. 

1  N.  L.  984.  See  also  R.  A.  930  f.  Familiar,  too,  is  the  scene  in 
Shakspere's  Richard  III.,  I.  2,  where  King  Henry's  corpse  bleeds  at 
the  approach  of  his  murderer. 

2  Schmid,  s.v.  orddl,  and  references,  especially  pp.  144  and  416  ff. 
For  the  Greek  use  of  this  ceremony,  see  the  well-known  passage  of  the 
Antigone,  264  ff. 

8  "  Fac  eum,  domine,  in  visceribus  angustari,  ejus  guttur  conclude," 
etc. 


804 


fi 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FUNERAL 


305 


Grimm  records  a  form  of  duel  where  physical  en- 
durance decided  the  cause.  In  heathen  times  this 
was  probably  a  test  to  see  which  of  two  persons 
could  longer  sustain  the  hands  and  arms  aloft.  In 
Christian  practice,  this  was  changed  to  the  custom  of 
standing  with  uplifted  hands  by  a  cross,  the  judicium 
crucis.  We  have  noted  above  Karl's  contest  with 
Redbad,  where  the  test  was  to  stand  motionless  as 
long  as  possible. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  FUNERAL 

The  weapon-death  —  Burning  and  burial  —  The  former  a  primi- 
tive Germanic  habit  —  The  mound  or  barrow  —  Its  position  —  What 
was  burnt  or  buried  with  the  dead  —  Sacrifice  of  the  living — Ship- 
burials  —The  land  of  souls  —  Germanic  horror  of  the  grave  —  The 
elegiac  mood  in  our  poetry  —  Games  and  feasts  at  the  funeral  — 
Ceremonies  at  the  burial  of  Attila  and  of  Beowulf. 

Death,  we  have  already  seen,  came  to  the  Ger- 
man upon  the  battle-field,  in  the  feud,  and  at  sea ;  but 
nowhere  so  dreaded  as  where  it  found  him  in  his  bed, 
—  the  "straw-death,"  as  he  called  it.  Men  who  die 
thus  inglorious  are  doomed  to  tread  wet  and  chill  and 
dusky  ways  to  the  land  of  Hel.  Old  warriors  of  the 
Viking  age,  when  caught  by  illness,  gashed  them- 
selves with  Odin's  spear,  and  so  bought  "  Valhalla  " 
with  their  blood.^  Of  the  various  paths  to  death,  old 
age  had  the  worst  adjectives.  A  passage  in  BSowuJf 
preserves  some  of  the  primitive  sentiment,  though  the 
note  of  sermonizing  has  slipped  in  and  given  a  modern 
tone  to  the  whole  :  — 


1  The  earlier  belief  gave  all  dead  to  Hel,  and  later  to  Thor.  Odin 
is  the  Viking  god.  See  Schullerus  in  P.  B.  Beit.  XH.  246,  and  Petersen, 
Om  Nordboernes  Gudedyrkehe  og  Gudetro  i  Hedenold,  p.  90  ff.  For 
another  notion,  which  worked  against  mutilated  bodies,  see  Tyler, 
Primitive  Culture,  II.  87. 


it« 


306 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


307 


M 


Soon  shall  it  be 
that  sword  or  sickness  will  steal  thy  power, 
or  fang  of  the  fire,  or  flood's  o'erwhelming, 
gripe  of  the  falchion,  or  flight  of  spear, 
or  odious  age ;  or  the  eyes'  clear  beam 
wax  dull  and  darken. ^ 

A  famous  passage  of  the  poetic  Edda  2  mentions  the 
different  deaths  which  men  may  die.    "  I  counsel  thee 
ninthly,"  says  Sigrdrifa  to  Sigurd,  "that  thou  give 
the  dead  man  burial  no  matter  where  thou  shalt  find 
him,  be  he  sick-dead,  or  sea-dead  or  weapon-dead,  .  .  ." 
The  sea-death  came  often  enough  to  these  northern 
pirates,  and  was  by  no  means  without  honor.     But  it 
is  the  weapon-dead  who  fare  straightway  to  Odin; 
unwasted  by  sickness,  in  the  full  strength  of  man- 
hood, they  leap  mailed  and  armed  into  the  new  life. 
This  feeling  about  the  compensations  of  a  warrior's 
death  is  still  abroad,  and  is  not  yet  a  mere  sentiment. 
The  Horatian  maxim  was  certainly  more  than  senti- 
ment, —  it  was  Roman  faith  and  Roman  pride ;  and 
there  is  even  for  us  something   full-blooded   about 
those  adjectives   didce  et  decorum.     The  warrior  in 
Germanic  times  had  the  stateliest  funeral ;   his  arms, 
and  often  his  wife  and  slaves,  gave  him  fitting  escort 
to  the  other  world.     A  violent  death  of  almost  any 
kind  was  the  only  aristocratic  way  to  leave  life  in 
Scandinavia.     Suicide   was   honorable   when   under- 
taken from  motives  which  men  then  deemed  proper, 
and  is  a  matter  of  frequent  occurrence  in  Old  Norse 
annals. 

As  regards  the  funeral  rites  of  the  German,  we  are 


1  B^ow.  1763  ff. 


2  Sigrdrifumdl,  33,  ed.  Hildebrand. 


not  without  fairly  copious  sources  of  information.^ 
Burial  and  burning  of  the  corpse  alternate  in  history, 
and  are  conditioned  by  the  circumstances  of  a  given 
tribe.  "  The  soberest  nations,"  says  Sir  Thomas 
Browne  in  his  Hydriotaphia,  "  have  rested  in  two 
ways,  of  simple  inhumation  and  burning,"  while  he 
asserts  that  "  carnal  interment  .  .  .  was  of  the  elder 
date."  It  is  curious,  by  the  way,  to  compare  the 
fantastic  reasons  given  by  Sir  Thomas  for  these  prac- 
tices, with  the  poetical  explanation  of  the  German 
scholar  and  romanticist,  Jacob  Grimm.  "  Some  being 
of  the  opinion  of  Thales,  that  water  was  the  original 
of  all  things,  thought  it  most  equal  to  submit  unto 
the  principle  of  putrefaction,  and  conclude  in  a  moist 
relentment.  Others  conceived  it  most  natural  to  end 
in  fire,  as  due  unto  the  master  principle  in  the  com- 
position .  .  .  and  therefore  heaped  up  large  piles,  more 
actively  to  waft  them  toward  that  element.  .  .  ." 
Grimm,  too,  regards  burial  as  the  primitive  custom, 
and  gives  it  a  poetic  motive,  —  the  body  sinks  to  the 
mother  of  all  things,  earth ;  whereas  by  fire  the  soul 
soars  in  flame  to  the  father,  to  Jupiter .^  Burning,  he 
therefore  concludes,  shows  a  higher  stage  of  culture ; 
and  he  connects  with  this  custom  the  formation  of  a 
belief  in  the  end  of  the  world  through  fire.  On  the 
other  hand,  burial  would  often  be  a  necessity,  —  after 
a  battle,  or  in  a  country  destitute  of  wood.  Where 
the  two  customs  existed  side  by  side,  burning  was  for 

1  The  best  summary  is  J.  Grimm,  iiher  das  Verbrennen  der  Leichen, 
an  admirable  paper,  read  before  the  Berlin  Academy  in  1849.  Kl.  Schr, 
II.  211  ff. 

2  Work  quoted,  p.  214  f.  One  involuntarily  recalls  Goethe's  sympa- 
thetic ballad,  Der  Gott  und  die  Bajadere,  with  its  fine  ending;  and 
Grimm  quotes  the  conclusion  of  the  same  poet's  Braut  von  Corinth, 


308 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


309 


ii^ 


III 


the  rich  and  burial  for  the  poor.  A  nomadic  folk 
tends  to  burn,  an  agricultural  folk  to  bury.  The 
stone  age  probably  buried,^  thinks  Grimm,  the  bronze 
age  burnt,  while  the  age  of  iron  returned  to  burial.  In 
broader  generalization,  the  heathen  races  have  mostly 
preferred  to  burn  their  dead,  while  Christians  incline 
to  burial.  The  importance  of  some  sort  of  funeral 
rites  was  conceded  by  primitive  man  ;  only  the 
roughest  tribes  have  left  the  bodies  of  their  dead  to 
dogs  and  birds  of  prey,  —  a  fearful  fate  reserved  for 
conquered  warriors,  and  familiar  in  the  Iliad  and  in 
our  Anglo-Saxon  poetry.  The  old  Persians,  how- 
ever, treated  their  dead  in  this  way,  and  some  Mon- 
golians still  keep  up  the  practice ;  but  for  these  latter 
there  are  explanations  in  the  theories  of  soul-cult, 
advanced  by  modern  anthropology.  One  thing  is 
quite  certain  :  our  Germanic  ancestors  burned  their 
dead.2 

To  Tacitus,  the  Germanic  funeral  ceremonies 
seemed  simple  in  the  extreme.  But  there  was 
probably  more  meant  and  more  carried  out  than  met 
his  ear;  and  we  must  remember  the  extraordinary 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  funerals  at  Rome.  Caesar 
testifies^  that  Gallic  funerals  were  very  sumptuous ;  but 
the  only  peculiar  custom  which  Tacitus  finds  worthy 
of  notice  in  Germanic  rites  is  the  use  of  certain  kinds 
of  wood  for  the  funeral-pile  of  illustrious  men.  No 
costly  coverings,  he  says,  are  used,  no  spices ;  but  the 

1  Certainly  did,  says  Montelius,  Civilization  of  Sweden  in  Ancient 
Times,  trans.  Woods,  p.  35. 

2  Swedish  graves  of  the  early  iron  age  show  both  burnt  and  unburnt 
bodies.  In  the  boat-burials  bodies  were  now  burnt,  now  unburnt.  Mon- 
telius, pp.  122-139. 

*  B.  G.  VI.  19,  "  funera  . . .  magnifica  et  sumptuosa." 


arms,  and  often  the  horse,  of  the  warrior  are  given 
with  him  to  the  flames.  The  grave  is  then  marked 
by  a  mound  of  turf.^  While  the  funeral  was  less 
splendid  than  those  sung  in  some  of  our  early  epics, 
—  as  in  BSoioulf^  —  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  of 
the  highest  importance  ;  for  in  another  place,^  Tacitus 
tells  us  that  even  amid  the  most  desperate  battles  Ger- 
mans were  wont  to  carry  away  (to  the  rear)  the  bodies 
of  their  dead.  That  the  Germans  burnt  their  dead  was 
natural  enough  for  people  shut  in  among  such  cre- 
mating races  as  the  Gauls,  Romans,  Greeks,  Thracians, 
Lithuanians,  and  Slavonic  tribes.^  Christianity  cleaves 
to  burial,  not  only  because  Christ's  stay  in  the  sep- 
ulchre hallowed  it,  but  from  Old  Testament  pre- 
cedents. In  the  third  century  burning  of  the  dead 
had  ceased  in  Rome,  and  in  the  fourth  century  it  was 
there  spoken  of  as  a  matter  of  antiquity.  Charle- 
magne, in  an  edict  for  the  Saxons,  made  burning  of 
corpses  a  capital  offence,  and  Boniface  worked  against 
it,  as  against  the  eating  of  horse-flesh,  —  pagan  prac- 
tices both.*  Certain  names  of  places  in  England 
preserve  traces  of  the  old  custom  ;  such  are  Adeshdm^ 
in  Kent,  —  now  Adisham,  —  where  Ad  certainly 
means  funeral  pile ;  and  Bcelesbeorh  in  Gloucester- 
shire.^ Kemble  quotes  the  Orvar  Oddr  Saga,  where 
the  hero  gives  direction  for  his  funeral.  Men  are  to 
make  a  stone  trough  and  take  it  to  the  wood :  "  There, 

1  Tac.  Germ.  XXVII.    The  rest  is  rhetoric.  2  ibid.  VI. 

8  J.  Grimm,  work  quoted,  p.  241. 

^"Jubemus,"  says  Charlemagne,  "ut  corpora  Christianorum  Sax- 
onorum  ad  cimeteria  ecclesise  deferantur,  et  non  ad  tumulos  Paga- 
norum." 

6  Given  by  Kemble  in  his  HorsB  Ferales,  p.  119  f.  in  an  essay  on 
•'  Burial  and  Cremation." 


310 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


311 


when  I  am  dead,  I  am  to  lie  in  fii-e  and  bum  up 
entirely."  Oddr,  we  must  remember,  was  a  convert 
to  Christianity.  For  a  long  time  converts  used  a 
certain  amount  of  fire  in  funeral  rites,  as  if  insuring 
themselves  the  advantages  of  both  systems.  More- 
over, when  the  custom  of  burial  had  superseded  the 
heathen  funeral  pile,  choice  and  nature  of  the  grave- 
mound  remained  for  a  long  time  under  control  of 
private  persons.  Not,  thinks  Kemble,^  till  the  clergy 
saw  decided  power  and  profit  involved  in  the  super- 
intendence of  funeral  ceremonies  —  say  about  the  end 
of  the  ninth  century — were  regular  churchyards 
established  in  England.  The  Anglo-Saxon  loved  to 
be  buried  in  a  chosen  place  —  by  a  stream,  or  on  some 
headland  that  looked  out  far  over  the  ocean .2  Grimm, 
in  another  interesting  paper,^  notes  the  antiquity  of 
such  choice  of  burial-sites.  In  days  when  corpses  were 
burned,  the  ashes  were  committed  to  a  huge  mound 
or  barrow,  sometimes  by  the  great  military  highway, 
or  by  the  ford  of  the  river,  if  inland,  or  else  on  the 
shore  of  the  sea.  Greek,  Roman,  and  Saxon  examples 
show  a  common  trait.  In  the  Odyssey,  we  have  a 
description  of  the  burial  of  Achilles.'*  "  So  thou  wert 
burned  in  the  garments  of  the  gods,  and  in  much 
unguents  and  in  sweet  honey,  and  many  heroes  of  the 
Achaeans  moved  mail-clad  around  the  pyre  where  thou 
wast  burning^  both  foot-men  and  horse,  and  great  was 
the  noise  that  arose.  But  when  the  flame  of  Hephses- 
tus  had  utterly  abolished  thee,  lo,  in  the  morning  we 

1  Work  quoted,  p.  109. 

2  For  these  lofty  burial  sites  in  Scandinavia,  see  Weinhold,  AUnord. 
Lehen,  p.  498,  note,  and  Montelius,  p.  85.         »  KL  Schr.  VII.  406  ff. 

*  Bk.  24 ;  the  translation  is  that  of  Butcher  and  Lang. 


gathered  together  thy  white  bones,  Achilles,  and  be- 
stowed them  in  unmixed  wine  and  in  unguents.    Thy 
mother  gave  a  twy-handled  golden  urn.  .  .  .     Therein 
lie  thy  white  bones.  .  .  .     Then  over  them  did  we 
pile  a  great  and  goodly  tomb,  .  .  .  high  on  a  jutting 
headland  over  wide  Hellespont^  that  it  might  be  far 
seen  from  off  the  sea  by  men  that  now  are  and  by 
those  that  shall  be   hereafter."     In   the   same   way 
Elpenor  asks  Odysseus  to  burn  him  with  his  armor, 
and  "  pile  him  a  barrow  on  the  shore  of  the  gray  sea 
.  .  .  that  even  men  unborn  may  hear  his  story  " ;  and 
^neas  buries  the  ashes  of  his  friend  Misenus  in  a 
huge  mound  ^  on  a  headland  of  the  sea.     Such  burial- 
sites  are  often  mentioned  in  the  Norwegian,  Swedish, 
and  Icelandic  sagas.     Grimm  finds  "  hohe  Poesie  "  in 
the  account  of  Yngwar's  burial-place.     "  The  Baltic 
sings  a  joyous  wave-song  to  lull  the  Swedish  hero ; 
the  sleeper  in   the   hill  hears  the  billows  breaking 
near  him,  and  their  murmur  cheei-s  his  loneliness." 
Burial  in  such  conspicuous  places  is  easily  proved  for 
Anglo-Saxon   times.      Taking   first   the    antiquary's 
evidence,  we  may  note  the  "  fiWQ  Saxon  barrow,"  "  on 
a  bold  conical  hill  overlooking  Folkestone  in  Kent."^ 
Further,  "  the  hill  of  Osengal,  overlooking  Pegwell 
Bay  near  Ramsgate,  and  furnishing   a  magnificent 
view  of  the  Channel,  ...  is  perforated  like  a  honey- 
comb with  the  graves  of  an  immense  Saxon  cemetery."  ^ 
Finally,  we  have  the  testimony  of  our  old  epos.    Says 
the  dying  Beowulf  to  his  young  kinsman  Wiglaf :  *  — 

1  "  Ingenti  mole."    See  Odyssey,  XI.  66  ff.,  Verg.  ^n.  VI.  232,  and 
Grimm,  work  quoted. 

2  T.  Wright,  Celt,  Romaii,  and  Saxon,  p.  469. 

8  Ibid.  470.  4  2802  ff, 


312 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


Bid  the  battle-famed  build  me  a  mound, 
bright  after  bale  ^  on  a  brow  of  the  coast ; 
this  as  a  token  to  tribes  of  mine 
on  Whale-Headland  high  shall  tower, 
by  ocean-wanderers  ever  called 
Beowulf's  Barrow,  when  back  from  far 
they  drive  their  keels  o'er  the  dusky  sea. 

Kemble  remarks  ^  that  the  inland  tumuli  or  bar- 
rows are  often  used  in  old  chartei-s  as  the  boundaries 
of  Anglo-Saxon  estates.  These  ancient  documents 
either  couple  with  the  mention  of  the  mound  the 
adjective  "  heathen,"  or  else  give  a  name  of  the  per- 
son who  lies  in  the  tomb,  and  probably,  as  Kemble 
argues,  was  a  Christian.  Ordinarily,  we  have  either 
simply  "  the  heathen  barrow,"  or  else  "  Hoce's  bar- 
row"; but  in  a  charter  of  the  year  976,  we  read: 
"  Thence  to  the  heathen  '  burial '  (tomb)  ;  thence 
westward  to  the  boundary  where  jElfstdn  lies  in 
heathen  barrow."  This,  Kemble  takes  to  signify  the 
burial  of  a  Christian  in  the  midst  of  old  heathen 
graves.  Poetry  easily  laid  hold  of  these  places,  and 
gave  them  that  needful  touch  of  the  mystic  and  un- 
canny. In  a  remarkable  passage  of  Salomon  and 
Saturn?  there  is  something  of  the  later  romantic 
shudder,  as  well  as  a  good  movement  of  the  verse  :  — 

His  sword  well-burnisht  shineth  yet, 
and  over  the  harrow  beam  the  hilts.* 

The  study  of  primitive  culture  leads  us  to  the 
conclusion  that  burials,  whether  of  the  body  or  of 

1  I.e.  after  the  funeral  pile  is  burnt.  «  Work  quoted,  p.  110. 

8  Kemble's  ed.  p.  156.    See  p.  248,  above. 

4  Of  course  souls  often  appear  over  their  graves  in  the  shape  of 
flame.  So  Angantyr  and  his  brothers  in  the  Hervararsaga.  See  Mogk, 
in  Paul's  Grdr.  1. 1012. 


THE   FUNERAL 


313 


the  ashes  left  from  the  funeral-pile,  began  in  or  near 
the  home  itself.     Survivals  and  traditions  point  this 
way,  even  if  we  neglect  the  study  of  savage  customs. 
Thus  Alboin  was  buried  in  Italy  under  the  steps  of  a 
palace,  and  with  him  were  his  arms  and  ornaments.^ 
Primitive  races   have    buried   their  dead   under  the 
threshold,  with  a  general  feeling  that  the  spirit  will 
protect  its  former  home.     Here,  however,  we  note  a 
curious  conflict  between  two  ideas,  —  the  desire  to 
keep  a  spirit  near  one's  home  and  so  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  its  protection,  and  the  fear  of  evil  influences  pro- 
ceeding from  such  hovering  souls.     A  half-way  dual- 
ism prompts  us  to  call  for  aid  upon  the  shades  of  our 
fathers,  and  yet  at  other  times  to  conjure  into  peace 
the  perturbed  spirit,  and  bid  it   cease   to  haunt  us. 
Men  placed  for  these  spirits  the  little   offering  of 
meat  or  wine ;  and  even  yet  a  prevalent  superstition 
forbids  tlie  carrying  out  of  a  corpse  through  door  or 
window:  there  must  be  a  hole  cut  for  it  thi^ough  the 
wall,  or  it  must  at  least  take  some  unwonted  way  of 
egress.2    It  was  once  common  with  German  peasants 
to  bury  the  dead  man  in  the  house  where  he  had 
lived;  3  it  is  still  custom  in  many  places  to  open  doors 
and  windows  of  the  sick-room  where  one  has  just  died, 
—  let  the  soul  fly  off  and  rid  the  survivors  of  an  un- 
welcome presence.     The  tomb  reare  ■"     ,er  a  grave  is 
itself  originally  nothing  more  nor  IcbS  than  a  house, 
and  the  home  of  the  dead  was  like  the  home  of  the 

1  Paul.  Diac.  II.  28. 

2  Weinhold's  (Altnord.  Leben,  p.  476)  facts  are  true,  but  his  theory  is 
false.  Not  because  the  corpse  is  ''  unclean  "  is  this  exit  chosen;  it  is 
to  keep  the  spirit  from  finding  its  way  back. 

8  Henning,  das  deittsche  Haus  (Quellen  und  Forschungen,  No.  47) 
p.  37. 


314 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FUNERAL 


315 


living.  The  Egyptians  carried  this  idea  to  its  most 
elaborate  conclusion.  So  arose  the  temple,  say  some, 
in  Greece ;  it  was  the  house  built  over  the  grave  of  a 
hero.  Lippert  even  asserts  that  the  whole  doctrine 
of  an  under- world  originated  with  graves,  the  sub- 
terranean homes  of  the  dead.^  Trees  were  planted 
about  such  a  grave,  and  the  sacred  grove  grew  up 
about  the  resting-place  of  powerful  ancestors,  or  of 
the  deified  founder  of  the  race  itself.  Such  groves 
are  mentioned  in  Bugge's  text  of  the  Harbardslid^:^ 
"  When  didst  thou  learn  these  things  ?  "  asks  Thor ; 
and  Harbard  (=  Odin)  answers :  "  From  the  old  folk 
I  took  them,  the  people  who  live  in  the  woods." 
Graves  were  sometimes  used  as  treasure  houses 
which  the  ancestral  spirit  could  guard ;  or  else  they 
served  as  a  meeting-place,^  and  the  folk  met  there 
for  councils,  courts,  and  the  like.  Kemble*  says  that 
Cwichelmes  Hlgew,  one  of  the  most  commanding 
barrows  in  England,  was  in  the  eleventh  century  seat 
of  the  shire-court.  Tradition,  moreover,  told  of  former 
pagan  rites  at  Enta  Hl^w  and  Scuccan  Hl&w,  the 
Giants'  Barrow  and  the  Devil's  Barrow.  There  were 
no  regular  council-halls  for  Germanic  chieftains  until 
the  time  of  Charlemagne ;  but  a  bit  of  enclosed  land, 
the  shade  of  a  tree,  an  ancient  sepulchre,  were  favorite 
places.  In  the  same  way,  this  notion  of  the  grave 
acted  upon  its  own  inner  arrangement;  for  a  tomb 
was  found  in  Bavaria  with  five  skeletons   "seated 

1  Religion  der  europdischen  Culturstdmme,  p.  10. 

2  Hildebrand  has  haugum  instead  of  skdgum,  and  thus  reads:  "the 
people  who  live  in  the  mounds  or  graves  of  home." 

8  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  499.  ♦ 

*  Horse  Ferales,  p.  116.    We  noted  the  love  of  Germans  for  high  or 
conspicuous  sites  for  their  courts  and  councils. 


about  a  vessel,  by  the  side  of  which  lay  two  long  iron 
knives."  ^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  heathen  Anglo- 
Saxons  first  burnt,  and  then  buried,  their  dead. 
Grimm  collects  the  evidence  of  our  old  poetry,  and 
the  results  of  antiquarian  research  only  confirm  us 
in  our  belief.  That  the  thanes  of  Beowulf  are  or- 
dered to  bring  from  far  the  "  balewood,"  supports  the 
statement  of  Tacitus,  that  distinguished  men  were 
burnt  on  a  funeral-pile  made  of  certain  kinds  of 
wood.  Moreover,  we  have  an  epic  formula  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  used  as  a  variant  or  "  kenning,"  for  the  simple 
notion  of  dying.  Instead  of  "  dies  "  a  man  "  chooses 
the  funeral-pile,"  — seeks  it,  goes  to  it.^  Two  such 
burnings  are  described  in  BSowulf — that  of  the  hero, 
and  that  of  Hnsef  the  Dane. 

We  learn  from  these  descriptions  how  familiar  and 
necessary  seemed  to  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  burning  of 
their  dead.  We  see  how  the  funeral-pile  was  hung 
with  weapons  and  shields ;  and  how  when  the  mound 
had  been  raised,  it  was  surrounded  with  a  wall,  and 
furnished  like  a  mortal's  own  house,  with  rings  and 
treasure  and  whatsoever  gladdens  the  heart  of  men 
as  they  sit  secure  in  their  hall.  Ornaments,  weapons, 
horse,  slave,  spouse,  —  all  these  were  needed  by  the 
warrior  in  his  life,  and  a  simple  logic  concluded  his 
need  of  them  in  what  was  literally  the  other  world. 
All  this  is  strange  to  modern  notions,  or  at  best  exists 
in  shadowy  survival.  Till  late  in  the  middle  ages 
a  knight's  best  steed  was  killed  when  its  owner  died ; 
nowadays,  we  lead  the  favorite  war-horse  in  the  fune- 

1  Lippert,  Rel.  d.  eur.  Cult.  p.  148. 

2  Cf.  B^oio.  2818,  ♦*  »r  he  ba;l  cure." 


316 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


317 


li 


ral  procession.  In  some  places  of  Germany,  only  a 
few  years  ago,  the  custom  prevailed  of  putting  comb, 
razor,  and  soap,  into  a  man's  coffin.^  Suggestive  is 
the  lingering  habit  of  giving  the  dead  man  a  pair  of 
stout  shoes;  for  the  way  that  led  to  the  land  of 
spirits  might  well  be  rough.  In  Scandinavia,  it  was 
the  custom  for  a  near  relative  to  fasten  these  shoes 
firmly  to  the  feet  of  the  corpse.^  Often  a  staff  was 
added;  and  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  food  and 
drink  were  provided,  ghostly  viaticum^  found  in  count- 
less graves.  Corn,  fruit,  and  the  like  are  favorites  ; 
and  Kemble  ^  mentions  the  Saxon  fondness  for  hazel- 
nuts. In  modern  Sweden,  they  give  the  dead  man  his 
tobacco-pipe,  pen-knife,  and  a  flask  of  brandy ;  ^  while 
even  in  ancient  Sweden  it  was  considered  proper  to 
give  him  draughts  and  dice  to  beguile  the  weariness 
of  his  journey.^  But  kings,  and  men  of  might  must 
not  be  left  to  walk ;  and  the  horse  plays  a  great  part 
in  legends  which  have  to  do  with  graves.  Such  is  the 
Danish  Helhest  Says  Thiele : ^  "In  the  old  times, 
they  used  to  bury  in  every  churchyard,  before  any  hu- 
man body  was  interred,  a  living  horse.''  This  horse, 
which,  of  course,  haunts  the  place  as  a  terror  to  evil- 
doers, is  often  headless,  or  three-legged,  or  what  not ; 
now  it  is  white,  now  black.  In  Germany  the  Schim- 
mel  or  white  horse  plays  a  similar  rSle  ;   and  he  is 

1  Kuhn  and  Schwartz,  Nordd.  Sagen,  p.  435.  Visitors  to  the  famous 
Museum  of  Northern  Antiquities  in  Copenhagen  remember  the  pathetic 
sight  of  that  body  from  the  moor,  so  well  preserved,  and  the  little 
wooden  comb  withal.    But  it  is  a  fine  head  of  hair,  and  deserves  the 

vanity. 

2  Weinhold,  A.  L.  494.  «  Horse  Ferales,  p.  69. 

*  Weinhold,  A.  L.  p.  493.        5  Montelius,  p.  122,  in  earlier  iron  age. 
«  Danmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  293. 


known  even  in  far  Arabia.  In  another  tale,^  Thiele 
mentions  the  belief  that  great  store  of  treasure  can 
be  raised  from  a  grave  where  a  "  gold-horse,"  or  "  a 
gold-prince  on  horseback^''  lies  buried.  Some  workmen 
once  saw  a  grave  open  —  it  was  known  to  contain  a 
mass  of  treasure  —  "  and  a  large  man  on  horseback, 
with  glittering  buttons  in  his  coat,  rode  out  of  the 
portal  of  the  mound."  The  prosaic  theory  of  Lippert, 
that  most  of  the  dragon  stories  are  due  to  the  old 
habit  of  burying  treasure  with  the  dead,  and  to  the 
natural  desire  to  frighten  off  plunderers,  is,  to  be 
sure,  wholly  inadequate  as  a  solution  of  the  di^agon- 
and-treasure  problem,  but  has  none  the  less  its  proba- 
ble features.  The  legends  of  buried  treasure,  of 
ghosts  who  must  "  walk,"  because  they  have  up- 
hoarded  in  their  life  "  extorted  treasure  in  the  womb 
of  earth,"  have  surely  some  relation  to  these  old  bur- 
ials. It  seems  fair  to  suppose  that  the  angry  spirit- 
tenant  of  the  mound  might  well  have  his  share, 
though  not  the  sole  proprietorship,  in  the  manu- 
facture of  dragon-myths.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
graves  were  often  rifled ;  we  can  see  how  the  Viking 
ship  at  Christiania  has  been  broken  and  plundered. 
Often,  too,  the  grave  was  opened  by  a  member  of  the 
family,  or  even  by  the  state,  and  a  loan  or  contribu- 
tion was  forced  from  the  dead  capitalist.  Kemble, 
in  the  interesting  work  above  quoted,  speaking  of 
the  barrows  often  named  as  boundary-marks  in  the 
old  charters,  points  out  an  interesting  phrase :  "  t6 
})am  brocenan  beorge,"  to  the  broken  barrow.  Another 
is,  "  westward  of  the  barrow  that  has  been  dug  into." 
Horse  and  treasure  do  not  exhaust  the  possibilities, 

1  I.  348. 


318 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


and  sometimes  a  chariot  was  added,  that  the  spirit 
might  make  his  way  to  Valhalla  in  still  greater  state. 
Grimm  1  instances  the  burial  of  King  Harald,  after 
the  great  battle  of  Bravalla.2  Conquered  and  slain 
in  battle,  he  was  sumptuously  buried  by  the  vic- 
torious King  Hring.  Harald's  body  was  washed, 
clad  in  armor,  laid  upon  the  chariot  of  King  Hring, 
and  so  driven  into  the  mound.  The  horse  was  killed, 
and  the  conqueror  laid  beside  it  his  own  saddle,  and 
cried  to  the  dead  king:  "Now  thou  canst  ride  to 
Valhalla,  or  drive  there,  as  thou  wilt !  "  Before  the 
mound  was  closed,  all  the  warriors  threw  in  rings 
and  costly  weapons.  Another  account  of  the  same 
occurrence  says  that  the  body  was  first  burned,  and 
this  would  be  the  oldest  version  ;  but  even  when  the 
burning  of  the  corpse  was  forgotten,  men  clung  to 
the  accessories  of  horse  and  chariot.  Besides  horses, 
we  often  hear  of  the  burning  or  slaying  of  dogs  and 
falcons.     Le  roi  8* amuse. 

Above  all  other  possessions  which  must  go  with 
the  dead  warrior,  stood  his  weapons,  and  of  his  wea- 
pons, the  sword.  We  see  nothing  out  of  the  way 
when  a  general  or  a  military  monarch  is  buried  with 
sword  at  his  side.  Thus  armed,  the  French  soldier 
in  Heine's  well-known  poem  was  fain  to  lie  in  his 
grave  and  wait  till  his  emperor  came  back  again. 
The  legends  and  sagas  show  us  how  stubbornly  the 
dead  hand  of  a  German  warrior  was  clasped  about 
his  sword.  Thiele  ^  gives  the  Danish  legend  of  King 
Hiarne  who  was  buried  on  an  island  with  his  thirty 
thanes  about  him.  By  accident  his  sword  was  dug 
up,  and  a  man  named  Niels  0stergaard  carried  it 

1  Work  quoted,  p.  271.      2  About  790  a.d.      8  Work  quoted,  I.  13. 


THE  FUNERAL 


819 


home.  But  from  that  time  Niels  had  no  luck,  and 
all  went  wrong  in  his  house.  At  last  he  carried  back 
the  sword,  and  buried  it ;  and  since  then  no  one  has 
disturbed  King  Hiarne 's  tomb.  Still  more  demonstra- 
tion was  made  by  the  robbed  sword  of  the  great 
Holger  Danske,  which  took  twelve  horses  to  drag  it 
away,  and  in  the  house  where  it  was  laid  caused  such 
terrible  commotion  and  shaking  of  walls,  that  people 
were  fain  to  haul  back  the  sword  to  its  place ;  and 
this  time  it  needed  only  two  horses.^  There  are 
many  similar  legends.  It  is  needless  to  dwell  on  the 
survivals  of  this  custom  of  giving  precious  possessions 
along  with  the  dead.  Instead  of  burying  or  burning 
treasure,  the  Chinese  burn  paper  which  represents 
it.  Among  the  Western  nations  we  have  the  penny 
put  in  the  mouth  of  a  dead  man.  Modern  instances 
would  not  be  far  to  seek,  though  entirely  confined  to 
ornament. 

The  darker  side  of  this  picture  is  familiar  enough. 
Not  only  tool  or  ornament  or  weapon,  —  the  living 
went  down  with  the  dead.  This  sharing  of  a  husband's 
or  a  master's  death  might  be  voluntary  or  involuntary. 
Often  the  wife  esteemed  it  her  privilege  as  well  as 
her  duty  to  die  upon  the  funeral-pile  of  her  lord ;  and 
in  the  famous  legend  which  impressed  so  strongly  the 
imagination  of  our  Germanic  race  and  gave  it  its  one 
great  epos,  when  Brynhild's  jealousy  has  slain  Sigurd, 
her  love  for  him  prompts  her  to  share  his  grave.  The 
story  of  her  fate  is  told  in  the  verse  of  the  SigwrSark- 
vi^a^^  and  in  the  prose  of  the  VoUung  saga.^    The 

1  Thiele,  I.  20.  a  Edda,  ed.  Hildebrand,  p.  234  f. 

*  Chap.  31.  A  translation  of  the  poetical  version,  with  attempted 
restoration  of  the  missing  words,  will  be  found  in  Vigfusson  and  Pow- 
ell's Corpus,  I.  302  f. 


320 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FUNERAL 


321 


latter  is  given  here  because  free  from  the  gaps  of  the 
older  version :  "  Now  I  beg  thee,  Gunnar,  one  thing, 
and  it  is  the  last  I  shall  beg  of  thee,"  —  it  is  Bryn- 
hild  who  addresses  her  husband.  "Make  a  great 
funeral-pyre  for  all  of  us  upon  the  mound,  for  me 
and  Sigurd  and  all  that  are  slain  along  with  him. 
Cover  it  with  human  blood,  and  burn  me  there  by 
the  side  of  the  Hunnish  king ;  and  on  his  other  side 
my  men,  —  two  at  his  head,  two  at  his  feet,  and  two 
hawks.  .  .  .  The  doors  ^  shall  not  fall  upon  his  heels 
where  I  follow  him ;  and  our  retinue  is  no  sorry  one 
when  five  handmaidens  and  eight  serving-men,  whom 
my  father  gave  me,  follow  him,  and  they  too  are 
burnt  who  are  slain  along  with  Sigurd.  .  .  .  Now 
was  Sigurd's  corse  cared  for  in  the  ancient  fashion, 
and  a  huge  funeral-pile  was  built.  And  when  that 
towered  so  high  that  it  could  be  seen  from  far,  they 
laid  upon  it  the  bodies  of  Sigurd  and  his  three-year- 
old  son,  whom  Brynhild  had  caused  to  be  slain,  and 
also  the  corpse  of  Gothorm,  who  had  murdered  Sigurd. 
And  when  the  flames  were  hot,  went  forth  Brynhild. 
She  said  to  her  handmaidens  they  might  take  her 
gold,  and  she  died,  and  she  was  burnt  there  along 
with  Sigurd,  and  so  her  life  was  done."  Less  pas- 
sionate, but  full  of  quiet  devotion,  are  the  words  of 
the  wife  of  old  Nial :  "  Young  I  was  married  to  Nial, 
and  I  have  promised  him  that  one  fate  should  take  us 
both."  She  refuses  to  leave  the  burning  house,  and 
dies  with  her  husband.  Wherever  we  turn  in  an- 
cient history,  examples  of  this  custom  press  upon  us. 
The  modern  school  of  criticism  is  not  inclined  to  lean 
on  poetry  or  sentiment  in  its  explanations  of  these 

^  Of  Hel's  domain. 


sombre  rites  ;  and  even  a  philologist  like  Hehn  finds 
Grimm's  treatment  far  too  romantic.^  Through  these 
rifts  in  the  fabric  of  our  old  culture  we  catch  glimpses 
of  the  sheer  brutality  and  indifference  to  human  life 
which  marked  the  earliest  stages  of  primitive  religious 
systems.  Hehn  collects  a  mass  of  examples.  We 
remember  that  Achilles  offered  to  the  shade  of  Pa- 
troclus  not  only  horses  and  dogs,  but  twelve  young 
Trojans  whom  he  had  captured  for  the  purpose ;  and 
on  his  own  grave,  in  after  days,  Polyxena  was  burned. 
In  some  countries  the  wife  was  expected  to  hang  her- 
self at  the  grave  of  her  husband.  Most  cruel,  per- 
haps, was  the  Scythian  custom.^  When  the  king 
dies,  one  of  his  wives  is  strangled  and  bui'ied  with 
him,  likewise  a  number  of  servants  and  horses.  On 
the  anniversary  of  his  death,  fifty  slaves,  whom  he 
had  chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  fifty  choice  horses 
are  treated  in  the  same  manner.  The  burial  of  Alaric 
the  Goth  is  familiar  to  readei-s  of  Gibbon.  Boniface, 
in  a  letter  to  the  king  of  Mercia,  about  T45  A.D., 
describes  the  custom  among  the  Wends :  the  wife  is 
buried  with  her  husband.  As  regards  the  sacrificial 
side  of  this  custom,  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  the 
consideration  of  Germanic  religion. 

Whatever  is  sanctioned  by  religion  and  dateless 
custom  comes  to  be  regarded  as  a  virtue,  and  finds 
willing  devotees.  Possibly  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant ceremonies  and  duties  of  modern  life  will  one  day 
be  counted  in  the  list  of  painful  superstitions ;  but, 
however  that  may  be,  the  voluntary  death  of  a  wife 
at  her  husband's  funeral  was  reckoned  among  the 
conspicuous  virtues  of  the  Germanic  woman.     Hakon 

1  Hehn,  work  quoted,  p.  440.  2  Hehn ;  and  Herodotus,  4.  71  f. 


322 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


323 


Jarl  was  refused  in  his  old  age  by  Gunnhild  because 
she  would  in  all  probability  have  early  occasion  to 
die  with  him.  Nor  was  the  tie  of  husband  and  wife 
the  only  one  which  called  for  such  a  sacrifice.  Sons, 
as  in  the  case  of  Sigurd,  or  brothers,  were  chosen  as 
the  victims ;  and  the  bonds  of  friendship  and  love 
were  often  hallowed  by  a  sense  of  similar  obligation. 
Cases  can  be  found  where  two  men  agree  that  should 
either  die,  the  other  will  straightway  follow.  True 
lovers,  in  countless  tales  and  ballads  of  a  later  time, 
die  at  the  selfsame  moment ;  instead  of  the  old  min- 
gling ashes,  they  are  buried  side  by  side,  and  two 
rose  trees  spring  through  the  tui'f  and  twine  lovingly 
together. 

On  the  general  subject  of  burial,  there  is  little  to 
say.  To  cover  the  corpse,  even  of  one's  bitterest  foe, 
was  a  custom  in  Iceland  whose  breach  might  lead  to 
banishment.^  No  pious  Scandinavian  passed  a  corpse 
without  tossing  a  bit  of  turf  or  a  stone  upon  it  by 
way  of  covering  ;  and  since  this  corresponds  so  closely 
to  the  well-known  classical  traditions,  it  seems  reason- 
able to  infer  for  the  whole  Germanic  race  a  general 
sense  of  the  immense  importance  of  funeral-rites. 
We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  women  and  chil- 
dren were  refused  the  ceremonies  which  are  told  of 
kings  and  warriors  and  peasants.  Cases  of  the  fune- 
ral-rites of  women  are  on  record ;  and  skeletons  of 
children  have  been  found  in  circumstances  that  abun- 
dantly justify  the  conclusion.^ 

Full  of  a  weird  interest  are  the  ship-burials  of  our 
sea-loving  ancestors.  Let  us  first  hear  how  the  white 
god  Balder  was  burnt  Viking-wise   upon  his  ship. 


1  Weinhold,  Altnord.  Leben,  p.  474. 


Ibid.  p.  482. 


"  Then  the  ^sir  took  Balder's  corpse  and  bore  it  to 
the  sea.  The  name  of  Balder's  ship  was  Hringhorni; 
it  was  the  greatest  of  all  ships.  The  gods  were  fain 
to  push  it  from  shore  and  make  thereon  Balder's 
balefire,  but  the  ship  would  not  move.  Then  they 
sent  to  Jotunheim  after  the  giantess  who  is  called 
Hyrrokin ;  when  she  came,  she  rode  a  wolf  and  had  a 
snake  for  its  bridle ;  when  she  leaped  from  the  steed, 
Odin  called  up  four  Berserkers  and  bade  them  hold 
it,  but  they  could  do  this  only  by  felling  it  to  the 
ground.  Then  Hyrrokin  stept  to  the  bow  of  the 
boat,  and  with  her  first  thrust  she  pushed  it  so 
that  fire  flashed  from  the  rollers  and  all  lands 
trembled.  That  made  Thor  angry,  and  he  grasped 
his  hammer  and  would  have  shattered  her  head,  had 
not  all  the  gods  asked  peace  for  her.  Then  Balder's 
corpse  was  borne  out  to  the  ship,  and  when  his  wife, 
Nanna,  daughter  of  Nep,  saw  that,  she  burst  for  grief 
and  died.  Then  she  was  carried  to  the  funeral-pile, 
and  it  was  kindled.  Thor  came  up  and  consecrated 
it  with  his  hammer,  and  before  his  feet  ran  a  dwarf 
called  Litr,  and  Thor  lifted  his  foot  and  thrust  the 
dwarf  into  the  fire,  where  he  was  burned.  .  .  .  Odin 
laid  upon  the  pile  a  ring.  .  .  .  Balder's  horse  and 
all  the  trappings  were  likewise  laid  upon  the  pile. 
.  .  ."  ^  Relics  of  such  naval  sepulchres  have  been 
discovered;  such  is  the  famous  Viking  ship,  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  university  of  Christiania,  and 
recently  dug  up  from  its  resting-place  of  a  thousand 
years. 

Famous  is  the  so-called  "  Passing  of  Scyld  " ;  ^  we 
find,  however,  no  mention  of  burning  the  corpse,  and 

1  Glyfaginning,  XLIX.,  Prose  Edda,  ed.  WilkeD,  p.  75  f.       2  B^ow.  26  ff. 


324 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


-I 


it 


a  too  hasty  inference  of  Sarrazin^  makes  this  fact 
prove  that  an  Anglo-Saxon  editor  or  translator  of  the 
Scandinavian  original  (such  is  Sarrazin's  nigh  im- 
possible theory)  allowed  his  own  ideas  of  burial  to 
predominate  in  the  description. 

Forth  he  fared  at  the  fateful  moment, 

Scyld  the  Grim  into  God's  protection. 

Then  they  bore  him  over  to  ocean's  billow, 

clansmen  trusty  —  he  charg'd  them  thus 

while  he  wielded  words,  winsome  Scylding.^ 

In  the  roadstead  rock'd  the  ring-prow'd  vessel,  — 

the  loved  leader  had  long  possess'd  it,  —  ^ 

ready  and  gleaming,  a  royal  ship  : 

there  laid  they  down  their  darling  lord, 

in  the  boat's  wide  bosom  the  breaker  of  rings, 

by  the  mast  the  mighty  one.     Many  a  treasure 

fetch'd  from  far  was  freighted  with  him. 

Ne'er  have  I  known  ship  nobler  deck'd 

with  weapons  of  war  and  weeds  of  battle, 

with  blade  and  breastplate.     On  its  bosom  lay 

heap'd-up  hoard  that  hence  should  go 

far  o'er  the  flood  with  him  floating  away. 

No  less  they  gave  him  lordly  gifts, 

ample  treasure,  than  erstwhile  those 

who  in  former  time  forth  had  sent  him 

sole  o'er  the  sea,  a  suckling  child. 

High  o'er  his  head  they  hoist  the  standard, 

a  golden  banner ;  let  billows  take  him, 

gave  him  to  ocean  :  grave  was  their  spirit, 

mournful  their  mood.     For  men  are  powerless 

to  say  in  sooth,  sons  of  the  hall, 

heroes  under  heaven,  who  harbor'd  that  freight ! 

This  charming  myth  is  found  in  many  places,  the 
story  of  infants  who  come  mysteriously  floating  to 

1  Beowulf-Stndien,  p.  39.  2  u  Friend  of  the  Scyld ings." 

3  With  Bugge  P.  B.  Beit.  12.  80,  reading  31  in  parenthesis  after  32. 


THE  FUNERAL 


325 


the  shore  in  a  boat  with  gorgeous  trappings,  evidently 
a  gift  of  heaven  to  the  kingless  realm.  There  they 
rule  wisely  and  well,  win  lands,  fame,  vassals,  and 
at  last,  dying,  order  their  funeral  in  the  same  boat 
that  bore  them  to  their  adopted  country.  Of  kindred 
spirit  are  the  Celtic  mytlis  about  King  Arthur,  and 
those  Germanic  legends  which  have  found  their  most 
popular  type  in  the  story  of  Lohengrin.^  Romance  is 
less  obvious  in  the  custom  of  South-Sea  Islanders, 
who  put  their  dead  into  old  disabled  boats,  and  so 
send  them  off  to  sea;  and  not  only  the  dead,  but 
those  also  who  are  mortally  sick.^  In  the  Niahsaga^^ 
old  Flosi  is  weary  of  life,  takes  a  bad  boat,  and  sails 
on  his  last  voyage :  "  Folk  said  liis  boat  was  wretched, 
but  Flosi  said  it  was  good  enough  for  one  who  was 
old  and  '  fey.'  He  took  in  cargo,  and  put  to  sea ;  but 
nothing  has  ever  been  heard  of  the  ship  since  then." 
In  the  old  English  ballad  of  Edivard  we  have  such  an 
allusion :  *  — 

"  What  death  dost  thou  desire  to  die, 
Son  Davie,  son  Davie?" 

"  I'll  set  my  foot  in  a  bottomless  ship, 
Mother  lady,  mother  lady ; 
I'll  set  my  foot  in  a  bottomless  ship, 
And  ye'll  never  see  mair  o'  me." 

Ship-burial  seems  in  most  places  to  have  been  a  pre- 
rogative of  kings  and  princes  and  heroes  of  great 
fame.     Saxo  tells  us  that  King  Frotho^  made  the  law 

1  References,  D.  M.  693.       2  Lippert,  Seelencxdt,  pp.  6, 13.       «  C.  160. 
<  Child,  Ballads  2  I.  169.    See  also  ballad  Lizie  Wan,  A,  stanza  ii. 
Vol.  II.  448. 

6  Saxo,  Miiller,  234  ;  Grimm,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  272;  Holtzmann,  Deutsche 
Myth.  p.  123. 


*v 


326 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


327 


that  a  chief  (satrapd)  shall  be  burned  with  one  ship ; 
but  for  ordinary  persons,  ten  shall  be  burned  with 
each  ship.     Such  a  vessel  —  an  cetheling's  harge^  the 
poet  of  BSowulf  calls  it  —  filled  with  treasure  and 
wrapt  in  flames,  drifting  slowly  out  to  sea,  watched 
by  a  great  throng  upon  the  shore,  must  have  made  a 
royal   funeral   indeed.      This  custom  of   ship-burial 
continued  in  the  case  of  kings  and  heroes  after  it 
had  become  usual  for  the  masses  to  be  buried  in 
mounds  or  common  gi-aves.     A  curious  combination, 
or   else   survival,    was   the   custom    best   known   in 
Scandinavia,  of  burying  people  first  in  actual  ships, 
then  in  coffins  made  to  represent  a  ship,  and  lastly  in 
an  ordinary  grave  with  stones  piled  about  it  in  the 
shape  of  a  ship.^     "Doubtless,"  says  Grimm,  "men 
were  buried  in  a  boat  so  that  when  in  the  under- 
world they  came  to  bodies  of  water  they  might  have 
their  boat  at  hand."     For  just  as  burial  in  the  earth 
brought    about    belief  in    that    shadowy   land,   the 
"  under-world,"  so  perhaps  these  old  boat-burials  made 
men  think  of   a  spirit-world  oversea.     As  with  the 
Greek,  Germanic  superstition  made  this  an  island; 
and   even   Hel's   mansion   is   surrounded   by  water. 
The  classical  Charon  is  not  without  his  relatives  in 
our  own  Germanic  legend.     To  a  fisherman  at  Speier 
on  the  Rhine  came  one  night  a  person  dressed  like  a 
monk  and  asked  to  be  ferried  over  the  stream ;  this 
done,  the  fisherman  returned  and  found  five  othei*s 
waiting  for  him.^     The  legend  is  incomplete  ;  but  its 
origin  and  tendency  are  evident  enough.     Many  old 
skeletons  have  been  found  in  Germany  with  a  coin  of 

1  Grimm,  work  quoted,  p.  274 ;  D.  M.  692. 

2  Grimm,  DeuUche  Sagen,  No.  276 ;  c/.  also  D.  MA  694. 


some  sort  still  remaining  in  the  mouth.i    Moreover, 
just  as  the  mysterious  western  ocean  held  for  Greek 
superstition    those    Fortunate    Islands,   the   mystic 
Atlantis,  the  Gardens  of  the  Hesperides,  the  abode 
of  the   blessed   dead,  —  so   there  lay  for  Germanic 
belief  a  world  of  souls  in  the  waters  toward  the  set- 
ting sun.     Procopius  2  relates  a  legend  of  the  island 
"Brittia,"  whither  the  souls  of  the  dead  were  fer- 
ried from  the  mainland ;  on  the  shores  of  the  latter 
dwelt  fishermen  and  others  who  were   free   of  all 
taxes  and  similar  burdens  of  state,  on  condition  that 
they  held  themselves  ready  to  row  the  dead  across. 
"Before   midnight   they   hear  a  knocking  at   their 
doors,  and  then  the  voice  of  an  invisible  person  who 
calls  them  to  their  work.     Immediately  they  get  up, 
and,  following  a  certain  undefined  impulse,  go  to  the 
shore.     There  they  find  boats  ready  for  the  journey, 
but  quite  empty,  — not  their  ovm  boats,  moreover, 
but  foreign  vessels.     They  go  into  these  boats  and 
take  the  oars,  whereupon  they  notice  that  such  a 
crowd  of  passengers  is  on  board  that  the  craft  sinks 
to  the  level  of  the  deck,  but  no  one  is  to  be  seen.     In 
an  hour  they  reach  Britain,  whereas  with  their  own 
boats  they  can  scarcely  row  the  same  distance  in  a 
night  and  a  day.     Then  the  boats  are  emptied,  and 
they  row  back :  the  vessels  are  so  light  that  only  the 
keel  is  on  the  water."     Meanwhile  no  one  whatever 
has  been  seen,  although  a  voice  is  heard  calling  out 
the  name  of  each  person  who  arrives;   women  are 
not  named  directly,  but  are  called  by  the  name  of 
those  to  whom  they  have  belonged  in  life.     Kemble 
queries  whether  this  silent  land  may  not  be  the  place 


1  Grimm,  D.  MA  III.  248. 


2  De  bello  Goth.  IV.  20. 


"  II 


328 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   FUNERAL 


329 


;  }!! 


about  which  is  asked  a  question  in  the  Salomon  and 

Saturn :  — 

Tell  me  of  the  land 

where  none  of  the  folk  with  foot  can  walk.^ 

Brittia,  of  course,  is  England,  whither  our  earli- 
est ancestoi-s,  destitute  of  sails,  could  scarcely  come 
save  by  accident  or  great  stress  of  need.  Hence 
the  mystery  and  the  myths.  Mannhardt  tells  of  the 
widespread  belief  that  souls  of  children  are  fetched 
from  "  Engelland  "  ;  the  name  was  applied  to  Britain, 
but  taken  to  mean  "the  place  where  angels  live." 
Wackernagel  quotes  an  old  story  which  calls  Britain 
"  Seelenland,"  soul-land.^  We  have  another  descrip- 
tion of  this  ghostly  ferry  given  by  Claudian,  who 
wrote  early  in  the  fifth  century.  On  the  Gallic  shore, 
he  says,  the  same  place  where  Odysseus  poured  his 
libation  and  spoke  with  the  shades,  "  there  may  be 
heard  weeping  and  lamentation  and  the  low  rustle  of 
flying  souls;  and  folk  who  dwell  there  see  pallid 
phantoms,  and  watch  the  shapes  of  dead  men  pass 
by.  .  .  ." 

Est  locus,  extremum  qua  pandit  Gallia  littus, 
oceani  prsetentus  aquis,  ubi  fertur  Ulixes 
sanguine  libato  populum  movisse  silentem. 
illic  umbrarum  tenui  stridore  volantum 
flebilis  auditur  questus.     Simulacra  coloni 
pallida,  defunctasque  vident  migrare  figuras.^ 

But  these  infinite  projections  of  the  old  boat-burial 
concern  rather  the  realm  of  myth  and  of  religious 

1  Sal.  and  Sat.  p.  177,  note. 

2  See  Mannhardt,  Germ.  Mythen,  p.  326  f.,  370, 405.  Procopius  seems 
to  mean  that  the  souls  are  taken  to  an  island  near  "  Brittia,"  —  Ireland, 
says  Wackernagel.    See  HaupVs  Ztst.  VII.  191. 

8  Claudian  in  Riijinum,  I.  123  ff. 


belief.     Actual  burial  was  for  the  great  majority  of 
our  race  connected  with   inland  places,  and  where 
water  played  a  part  it  was  the  water  of  sacred  wells 
and  streams.     Legends  tell  of  streams  or  fountains 
that  spring  from  old  heathen  tombs,  and  there  are 
magical  properties  in  the  water.     Thus  the  Danish 
tradition  of  a  certain  mound  "  in  which,  in  old  times, 
men  say  there  was  a  heathen  burial-place.     Near  the 
foot  of  it  wells  out  a  spring,  about  which  there  is  a 
prophecy   of  the  sibyl,  that   it   shall  one  day  save 
(the  neighboring  town)  from  great  danger."  ^  Church- 
yards inherited  all  this  wealth  of  heathen  shudders 
and  superstition ;  and  the  folk-lore  of  every  nation  is 
filled  with   these   tales.      Our   Saxon   temperament 
seems  especially  inclined  to  a  certain  solemn  enjoy- 
ment of  funereal  matters.     How  much  has  not  the 
subject    contributed    to    make    Gray's    Megi/  in  a 
Country  Churchyard  the  most  widely  read  English 
poem  !     The  Poema  Morale,  a  middle-English  didac- 
tic  piece   in   the   septenarius   or   ballad  metre,  was 
enormously  popular :  it  is  full  of  the  sepulchre.  Even 
our  most  imaginative  poetry  takes  a  strange  energy 
from  the  contemplation  of   death;    let  Beaumont's 
fine  verses  "  On  the  Tombs  in  Westminster  Abbey  " 
bear  witness :  — 

Here  be  sands,  ignoble  things, 
Dropt  from  the  ruin'd  sides  of  kings. 

Add  the  emphatic  testimony  of  Jacob  Grimm :  2 
"  No  race,  to  my  knowledge,  was  ever  more  strongly 
impressed  by  the  horror  of  the  dark  and  narrow  grave 

1  Thiele,  Danmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  35. 

2  Verbrennen  d.  Leichen,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  308. 


330 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


than  were  the  old  Saxons  and  Frisians  when  they 
turned  from  burning  to  burying."  Miillenhoff  ^  says 
that  "the  Frisian  legends,  especially  those  of  the 
islands,  show  a  certain  melancholy  " ;  and  all  of  their 
witch  stories  and  superstitions  were  more  terrible 
and  demonic  than  those  of  the  mainland.  Long- 
fellow rendered  into  English  some  Anglo-Saxon 
verses  which  he  called  The  Grave  ;  and  made  special 
mention'^  of  the  ''  Debate  between  the  Soul  and  the 
Body,"  of  which  he  translated  a  few  lines.^  Persons 
familiar  with  our  old  poetry  —  such  as  that  fine  frag- 
ment called  The  Euin,  or  The  Wanderer,  —  will 
recall  a  dozen  elegiac  passages  all  more  or  less 
based  on  the  contemplation  of  death  and  decay.  The 
somewhat  obscure  passage  in  BSowulf,  which  seems 
to  describe  a  sort  of  self-burial,  is  in  point.*  An  old 
man,  the  last  of  his  race,  fashions  or  finds  a  burial- 
place  in  a  cave  among  the  rocks,  and  carries  into  it 
all  the  treasure  which  once  delighted  his  kinsmen. 
Then  he  chants  his  farewell  to  the  splendors  of 
life :  — 

Now  hold  thou,  earth,  since  heroes  may  not, 
warriors'  riches !  once  from  thee 
earls  have  delved  them  :  now  death  hath  seized, 
bale  and  terror,  ray  trusty  people, 
laid  down  life  have  my  liegemen  all. 
*     None  have  I  left  to  lift  my  sword, 
or  to  cleanse  the  cup  of  carven  gold, 
costly  beaker :  clansmen  are  vanished. 


1  Introduction  to  Sagen  . . .  von  Schleswig-Holstein,  etc.  p.  liii. 

2  In  his  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Europe. 

3  Wiilker,  Grundriss  d.  ags.  Lit.  p.  74. 

*  See  Bugge  in  P.  B.  Beit.  12.  370.    B^ow.  2233  fE. 


THE  FUNERAL 


331 


I 

■ 

I 


Helmet  glittering,  golden-fretted, 

must  part  with  its  trappings :  polishers  sleep 

who  were  wont  to  brighten  the  battle-mask. 

And  the  battle-raiment  which  bode  in  war 

over  bicker  of  shields  the  bite  of  weapons, 

since  the  clan's  death,  crumbles  :  nor  corselet's  ring 

shall  fare  afar  with  the  famed  hero, 

at  the  side  of  the  warrior :  winsome  harp, 

glee-wood  is  dumb,  nor  darts  good  hawk 

swift  through  the  hall,  nor  the  speedy  horse 

stamps  in  the  burg-steads  :  bitter  death 

the  flower  of  the  race  hath  reft  away. 

So  the  last  of  his  clan.  This  elegiac  mood  has  been 
attributed  by  a  German  critic,^  not  to  the  tendency 
of  the  race  itself,  but  rather  to  the  softening  influ- 
ences of  Christianity.  This  seems  to  be  a  surface- 
criticism  ;  melancholy  of  some  sort  is  inherent  in  the 
Germanic  temperament,  and  a  sheer  ferocity  of  the 
Viking  or  even  Berserker  type  is  not  enough  to  offset 
the  countless  examples  of  the  elegiac  and  pathetic 
in  our  oldest  literature.  Thus  the  "dying  with  a 
laugh"  of  Scandinavian  heroes  is  not  necessarily 
opposed  to  a  melancholy  habit  of  mind.  There  are 
laughs  and  laughs. 

The  funeral-ceremony  was  accompanied  by  games, 
feasting,  and  sacrifices ;  and  these  might  well  be  con- 
tinued for  some  time.  The  act  of  taking  formal  posses- 
sion of  one's  patrimony  was  probably  connected  with 
these  rites;  and  Sir  Henry  Maine ^  speaks  of  that 
"  close  relation  between  succession  to  property  after 
death  and  the  performance  of  some  sort  of  sacrificial 
rites  in  honor  of  the  deceased."     At  the  Scandina- 


1  Heiuzel,  Uber  den  Stil.  d.  altc/erm.  Poesie,  Strasburg,  1875. 

2  Earhj  Law  and  Custom,  p.  78.    Cf.  also  his  Ancient  Law,  p.  191. 


332 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  FUNERAL 


333 


I  * 


I' 


vian  funeral-feast,  the  heir  sat  on  a  bench  near  the 
high-seat  1  until  the  Bragi-beaker  was  brought  to  him. 
Then  he  rose,  drank,  made  certain  vows,  and  there- 
upon took  his  father's  seat,  by  this  act  entering  on  his 
inheritance  and  becoming  head  of  his  family.  Games 
at  the  funeral  are  of  very  ancient  record ;  their  funda- 
mental purpose  was  a  common  amusement  for  the 
spirit  of  the  dead  man  and  his  living  kinsmen,  since 
he  was  thought  to  eat,  drink,  and  make  merry  with 
the  survivors.  Feats  of  horsemanship  are  favorite 
forms  of  this  merry-making.  A  sailor,  Wulfstan, 
told  King  Alfred  of  some  odd  customs  which  the 
Esthonians  of  his  time  observed  at  funerals.  They 
feast  a  long  time  in  the  dead  man's  home,  burn  his 
body  finally,  and  then  carry  all  his  property  from  the 
house  and  arrange  it  in  several  heaps  along  a  consider- 
able distance,  the  largest  heap  being  farthest  from 
the  house.  Then  all  the  men  ride  as  swiftly  as  pos- 
sible towards  the  different  heaps ;  the  fastest  rider 
naturally  gets  the  largest  amount.  This  must  have 
added  terrors  to  death  for  all  the  kinsfolk,  and  cer- 
tainly rendered  superfluous  any  ceremonies  of  enter- 
ing on  the  inheritance. 2  We  hear  of  games  at  the 
grave  of  Attila,  and  Jordanes  describes  them  briefly.^ 
In  the  midst  of  the  plain  and  under  silken  tents  they 
placed  Attila's  body,  and  celebrated  certain  remark- 
able games  (spectaculum).  The  best  horsemen  chosen 
from  the  entire  race  of  the  Huns  rode,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  circus,  about  the  place  where  he  lay  in 

1  Cf,  above,  p.  106. 

2  Voyages  of  Ohthere  and  Wulfstan,  inserted  in  Alfred's  Orosius. 

*  "Pauca  de  multis  dicere."    See  Jord.  de  orig.  act.  Getarum,  ed. 
Holder,  c.  49. 


state,  and  glorified  his  deeds  in  a  funeral-song,  some- 
what like  the  following:  "Attila,  mighty  king  of 
Huns,  son  of  Mundzuccas,  lord  of  the  bravest  races, 
who  hath  ruled  alone  with  power  unheard  before 
the  realms  of  Scythia  and  Germany,  and  with  taking 
of  states  and  cities  hath  terrified  both  the  empires ! 
Then  lest  everything  should  fall  a  prey  to  the  enemy, 
was  he  moved  by  prayer  to  accept  a  yearly  tribute. 
When  finally  he  had  happily  done  all  these  things,  it 
was  not  the  wound  of  a  foe,  not  the  treachery  of  a 
kinsman,  but  joyful  in  the  joy  of  his  people,  and  with- 
out a  pang,  that  he  fell  in  death.  Who,  then,  could 
call  that  a  decease,^  which  no  one  thinks  of  aveng- 
ing?" 

Compare    with    this    the    account    of    Beowulf's 
funeral :  —  ^ 

Then  the  bairn  of  Wihstan  bade  command, 
the  man  of  battles,  many  a  warrior, 
many  a  hero,  hither  to  bring 
from  far  the  pyre-wood,  people-shielders. 
Now  fire  of  the  pile  shall  fret  and  swallow 

—  as  wan  flame  waxes  —  the  warrior's  king, 
who  often  breasted  the  iron-shower, 

when  storm  of  darts  from  the  string  impelled, 
shot  o'er  the  shield-wall ;  —  shaft  was  firm, 
feather-fretted  flew  with  the  barb. 

»«*♦** 
Then  the  wounden  gold  on  wain  was  laden 

—  'twere  ill  to  count  it !  —  and  th'  setheling  borne, 
hoary  hero  to  Hrones-Ness.* 

Folk  of  the  Jutes  then  fashion'd  there 

on  the  earth  a  pyre  imperishable 

hung  with  harness  and  helms  of  battle, 

with  breastplates  bright,  as  he  begged  them  once. 


1  Exitum. 


2  3110  fp. 


8  Hron  =  whale. 


334  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

In  the  midst  they  laid  their  mighty  chieftain, 
warriors  wailing  their  winsome  lord. 
Then  on  the  mountain  a  mighty  pyre 
the  warriors  wakened :  ^  the  wood-smoke  rose 
swart  o'er  the  red  glow,  roaring  flame, 
mingled  with  moaning  (the  wind  was  whist  ^) 
till  the  heat  had  broken  the  house  of  bones, 
melt  in  its  bosom.     Mourning-hearted 
they  moaned  the  sorrow,  a  master's  death. 
Likewise  the  widow,  a  woful  song.  .  .  .* 

Then  the  Weder  people  wrought  anon     • 

on  the  cliff  a  barrow  broad  and  high, 

by  ocean  farers  easily  seen, 

and  within  the  tide  of  ten  days  built 

the  bold-one's  beacon,  by  burnt-out  pyre^^ 

and  wrought  them  a  w^all,  as  worthiest  seemed 

to  wisest  men  who  weighed  the  matter. 

Then  they  put  in  the  barrow  bracelets  and  rings, 

all  the  treasure  taken  before 

out  of  the  hoard  by  the  hero-band. 

They  left  earl's  riches  for  earth  to  hold, 

the  gold  in  ground,  where  again  it  lies 

useless  to  men  as  ever  it  was. 

Then  round  the  barrow  brave  men  rode, 

sons  of  sethelings,  twelve  in  all, 

would  moan  their  misery,  mourn  the  king, 

say  their  sorrow,  and  speak  in  laud, 

praise  his  prowess,  his  powerful  doing, 

worthily  laud  him,  as  well  beseemeth 

men  to  praise  their  master-friend, 

heartily  love,  when  hence  he  goeth 

from  life  of  the  body  forlorn  away. 

1  A  favorite  trope  in  A.-S. ;  here=  "  kindle,"  "  fan  into  flame." 

2  Another  reading:  — 

roaring  played, 
mingled  with  weeping  of  winds,  the  flame. 

8  The  text  is  very  difficult  here,  on  account  of  defects  iu  the  Ms. 
*  Bugge.    Others  read  "  bronda  betost." 


THE   FUNERAL  335 

So  mourn'd  their  master  the  men  of  Jutland, 
fall  of  the  hero  his  hearth-companions, 
counted  him  of  the  kings  of  earth, 
of  men  the  mildest  and  most  beloved, 
to  his  kin  the  kindest,  keenest  for  praise ! 

No  one  can  fail  to  see  the  likeness  between  this 
burial  of  Beowulf  and  the  ceremonies  at  the  funeral 
of  Attila. 

The  whole  logic  of  the  primitive  funeral  was  based 
on  a  supposition  that  the  spirit  sundered  from  the 
body  lived  after  death.  The  grave  is  a  house,  — 
eor^Ms,  "  Immortality,"  if  we  may  use  such  an  ex- 
pression, was  assumed  without  question  and  lies 
fossil-like  in  ancient  speech.  Phrases  like  "faring 
to  another  light,"  found  plentifully  in  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Old  Norse,  are  of  heathen  origin,  and  must  not 
be  referred  to  theology  of  later  times. ^  Gudrun 
says  she  is  fain  to  go  to  another  light  ;^  and  in 
BSowulf^  one  "gave  up  the  joyous  life  of  men,  he 
chose  God's  light."  The  phrase  is  here  lightly 
touched  with  the  new  theology,  but  is  of  far  older 
origin.  Even  the  HSliand  clings  to  ancient  expres- 
sion and  the  simpler  form:  sdkian  lioht  dtar^  to 
seek  the  other  light.  Other  kennings  for  death  are 
significant,  as  "  to  go "  —  from  world,  body,  house, 
hall,  "  to  go "  forth  or  hence,  "  to  seek  the  jo3dess 
place,"  "  to  part  soul  and  body."  Of  a  certain  prince 
we  are  told,  "  his  father  had  gone  elsewhere."  Death 
is  called  "  the  journey,"  "  the  miserable  journey,"  or 
"the  parting  of  the  soul."     Sometimes  the  body  is 

1  For  lists,  see  Bode,  Kenning ar ;  and  Vilmar,  Altert.  im  Heliand, 
p.  20,  note  2. 

2  Fara  i  lids  annat.  Atlamdl,  84.  8. 


•I 


336 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


regarded  as  a  garment  which  man  doffs  at  death.^  The 
summons  to  depart  comes  "at  the  hour  of  fate";  then 
it  was  that  old  Scyld  fared  forth.  The  Viking  heroes 
of  Scandinavia  expected  the  fixed  moment  of  Odin's 
choosing ;  and  the  word  "  fey,"  still  known  in  Scot- 
land, was  once  the  commonest  of  Germanic  words. 
"  There  die,"  says  a  character  in  the  Nibelungen 
Lay,  "  only  the  doomed  ones,"  —  ez  sterhent  wan  die 
veigen,  "Danger  (a  pit,  abyss)  is  everywhere  for 
the  doomed  one,"  is  a  Norse  parallel.^  This  com- 
bination of  the  sense  of  fatalism  with  implicit  belief 
in  a  future  life  leads,  we  all  know,  to  the  highest 
conditions  of  bravery  and  contempt  for  death ;  and, 
indeed,  it  takes  us  quite  away  from  the  realm  of 
daily  Germanic  custom.  Across  the  border-land  of 
the  funeral,  we  come  into  the  wide  domain  of  religion. 

1  Here  we  may  compare  the  swan-raiment  of  wise  women  and  the 
belief  in  werewolves.    See  Mannhardt,  Germ.  Mythen,  p.  692. 

2  Allt  er  feigs  fora^,  Fafnismdl,  11.  6. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


337 


CHAPTER  XII 


I 


!      . 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE  DEAD 


Germanic  religion  in  general  —  Cult  and  creed  —  Heathen 
scepticism  —  Agreement  of  old  and  new  faiths  —  Cult  of  ancestors, 
and  superstitions  about  the  dead  —  Survivals  —  All  Souls  —  Swiss 
customs  —  Heathen  rites  made  Christian  —  The  patron- saint  and 
the  fylgja. 

Religion  in  general  has  two  sides,  the  cult  and  the 
creed.  Primarily,  the  cult  is  a  series  of  ceremonial 
acts,  rather  than  a  system  of  what  we  should  call 
worship;  and  the  creed  is  not  so  much  a  logical 
statement  of  belief  as  a  record  or  tradition,  which, 
nowhere  definitely  set  down,  finds  expression  in  a 
number  of  more  or  less  coherent  tales  about  super- 
natural persons  and  supernatural  experiences.  Or, 
we  may  put  the  dualism  in  a  different  fashion.  Re- 
ligion rests  upon  ethics  and  emotion.  In  its  primi- 
tive stages  the  ethical  phase  is  entirely  occupied  by 
a  sense  of  duty  to  demonic  powers,  —  a  slavish  sense 
of  duty  as  to  a  master  who  must  be  obeyed  in  fear 
and  trembling ;  and  the  emotion  is  wholly  a  sense  of 
wonder  at  inexplicable  facts  and  processes,  mainly 
of  the  physical  universe,  which  spur  the  fancy  to  ex- 
press the  superhuman  in  terms  of  the  human,  and  in 
the  shape  which  we  call  a  myth.     That  is,  myths  are 


338 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  DEAD 


339 


I 


a  series  of  compromises  between  the  tendency  to  pro- 
ject personality  into  all  operations  of  nature,  and  the 
tendency  to  seek  such  a  cause  for  these  operations  as 
shall  be  wholly  free  from  observed  human  impotence. 
The  history  of  cult  and  ceremonial  religion  traces  the 
development  of  an  ethical  sense,  from  physical  offer- 
ing and  sacrifice  through  symbolical  rites  up  to  the 
notion  of  duty  to  one's  fellows  as  the  outcome  of 
duty  to  one's  God.    The  history  of  religious  emotion, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  for  all  early  stages  a  part  of  the 
history  of  poetry,^  and  must  chronicle  the  attempts 
of  the  human  mind  to  set  in  order  and  realize  its 
sense  of  wonder  at  the  supernatural.     The  realization 
of  this  sense  of  wonder  is  expressed  in  the  myth, 
and  a  series  of  myths  may  foster  a  primitive  creed.^ 
From  both  of  these  great  religious  factors,  the  cere- 
mony and  the  myth,  constantly  there  slips  and  es- 
capes the  living  faith  which  gives  them  being.     But, 
notwithstanding  this  loss  of  vitality,  myth  and  rite 
remain  firm,  and  form  a  part  of  traditional  religion. 
Long  after  the  living  sense  for  a  myth,  or  the  tangi- 
ble belief  in  a  divinity,  has  lapsed  from  people's  mind, 
the  cult  and  creed  survive,  and  men  go  through  form 
after  form,  careless  of  the  reason,  but  tenacious  of 
the  ancient  rite.     It  is  evident,  however,  that  the 
work  of  destruction  or  indifference  is  far  more  swift 
with  creed  than  with  ceremony.     Creed  is  a  garment 
which  one  may  hold  more  or  less  dear,  but  not  re- 
fuse to  discard ;  cult  is  the  habitual  round  of  one's 

1  Quellen  u.  Forschungen,  No.  51,  Mullenhoff's  preface  to  Mann- 
hardt's  MythoL  Forsch.  p.  viii.  f. 

2  Rationalistic  elements  enter  very  early  into  the  making  of  myths, 
as  where  a  story  is  told  to  explain  what  has  hitherto  passed  as  inex- 
plicable. 


life  which  one  easily  identifies  with  life  itself.  It 
follows,  therefore,  that  in  an  early  stage  of  the  de- 
cline of  a  great  religious  system  we  should  find  the 
creed  uncertain  and  easily  uprooted,  the  cult  still 
vigorous  and  tenacious  of  its  place. 

Precisely  in  such  a  condition  we  find  the  hea- 
thenism of  the  Germanic  race  at  the  time  of  its 
early  contact  with  Rome  and  Christianity ;  and  pre- 
cisely for  these  causes  we  can  understand  the  ease 
with  which  Christian  doctrines,  allied  with  the  new 
culture  and  the  new  lore  which  so  dazzled  our  fore- 
fathers, battered  down  what  ought  to  have  been  stub- 
born barriers  of  inherited  Germanic  belief.  With 
admirable  discretion,  the  early  missionaries  made 
their  main  assault  on  the  belief,  and  left  the  custom 
and  ceremony  to  be  undermined  by  slow  siege,  or 
driven  away  by  strategy. ^  Pope  Gregory  laid  down 
this  admirable  system  in  his  advice  to  certain  preach- 
ers of  the  new  faith  in  heathen  England ;  and  urged 
in  all  possible  cases  a  toleration  of  old  rites  or  else  a 
gentle  wresting  of  them  into  Christian  uses.^  If  the 
heathen  have  been  sacrificing  oxen  to  their  idols  and 
holding  feasts,  let  the  oxen  still  be  slaughtered,  the 

1  This  policy  was  not  always  adopted.  The  missionaries  who,  in  the 
eighth  century,  sought  to  convert  the  Frisians  and  Saxons,  were  ex- 
tremely violent  in  their  methods,  and  began  their  work  by  abrupt 
attack  upon  the  dearest  heathen  sanctities.  See  von  Richthofen,  Frie- 
sische  Rechtsgesch.  II.  411  flp.  He  contrasts  all  this  with  the  mild 
conversion  of  Iceland. 

'-  Beda,  Hist.  Ecc.  I.  30  (ed.  Holder).  This  chapter  is  of  great  im- 
portance for  the  subject.  See  specially  the  passage :  ". . .  fana  idolorum 
destrui . . .  minime  debeant;  sed  ipsa,  quae  in  eis  sunt,  idola  destruantur ; 
aqua  benedicta  fiat,  in  eisdem  fanis  aspergatur,  altaria  construentur, 
reliquiae  ponantur."  As  a  result,  the  new  church  bore  in  many  cases 
close  resemblance  to  the  heathen  temple.  For  Scandinavia,  see  Henry 
Petersen,  Om  Kordboernes  Gudcdyrkelse  og  Gudetro  i  Hedenold,  p.  32. 


340 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


1    ! 


feasts  still  be  held,  nee  diaholo  .  .  .  sed  ad  laudem  del, 
"  Concentrate  your  attack,"  said,  in  effect,  the  wise 
pope,  "upon  the  false  gods^  and  the  false  belief: 
deal  tenderly  with  immemorial  customs.  Destroy 
the  idols,  but  spare  the  altars  and  the  temple." 
Precisely  in  this  strain,  Remigius  laid  his  famous 
command  upon  the  just  converted  king  of  the 
Franks :  "  Adore  what  thou  hast  burnt !  Burn  what 
thou  hast  adored ! " 

The  attack  upon  heathen  divinities  was  made  yet 
easier  by  a  certain  spirit  of  doubt  which  had  begun 
to  affect  the  Germanic  mind  itself.  Thoughtful  souls 
were  reaching  after  something  better  than  the  worn- 
out  tales  of  a  rude  mythology,  and  daring  souls  had 
flung  all  faith  aside.  Our  best  view  of  a  race  on  this 
border  between  an  old  and  a  new  religion  is  in  Scan- 
dinavia. Many  a  hard-headed  Norseman  mocked  at 
the  old-wives'  tales  of  the  Edda,  and  snapped  his 
huge  Viking  fingers  at  an  Odin  or  a  Thor.  At 
Throndhjem  in  the  days  of  Hakon  Jarl,  Svend,  a 
worshipper  of  Thor,  pleaded  with  his  son  Finn,  who 
had  insulted  the  ancestral  god.  Thor,  urged  Svend, 
had  crushed  the  rocks  and  fared  through  the  moun- 
tains ;  Odin  gave  victory.  "  It  is  no  great  matter," 
answered  Finn,  "  to  break  up  stones  or  to  conquer  by 
witchcraft.  He  is  the  mighty  god  who  has  first  of 
all  created  hill  and  sky  and  sea."^     The  Icelander 


1  The  debate  between  Frankish  Clovis  and  his  Christian  wife  hinges 
on  the  true  or  false  nature  of  the  heathen  gods  (where  the  tirade 
against  Jupiter  and  the  others  is,  of  course,  mere  monkish  invention). 
And  very  significant  is  the  king's  remark  about  the  Christian  deity : 
"  He  is  not  even  of  our  race  of  gods!  "  See  Greg.  Tur.  II.  20,  and  Rett- 
berg,  Kirchenf/eschichte  Deutschlands,  I.  273. 

2  P.  E.  Miilier,  Sagahibliothek,  III.  322. 


'»--m?f*^M 


II 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   THE  DEAD 


341 


Thorkell,  as  his  end  drew  near,  commended  his  soul 
"to  him  that  created  the  sun."  ^  Men  turned  in 
disgust  from  the  rout  of  weak  or  knavish  gods.  In 
the  saga  of  Hrolf  Kraki,  we  are  told  that  King  Hrolf 
and  his  men  honored  no  gods,  but  trusted  in  their 
own  might.2  "Not  Odin,"  cries  another,  "but  chance 
rules  over  the  life  of  man."  "I  am  an  old  man," 
urged  Ketil;  "see  how  long  I  have  lived,  and  yet 
I  have  never  honored  Odin."  Down  at  Byzantium, 
a  sturdy  heathen  Icelander  was  asked  by  the  Greek 
emperor  in  whom,  then,  he  believed.  "  In  myself," 
was  the  reply.  Hrafnkel  says,  "  I  hold  it  folly  to  be- 
lieve in  gods."  Among  Anglo-Saxons,  the  very  min- 
isters of  the  old  faith  stood  ready  to  welcome  the 
new.  We  all  know  Beda's  two  stories,  one  of  Coifi, 
the  high-priest,  who  rode  spear  in  hand  to  shatter  the 
temple  of  his  own  gods ;  the  other,  of  that  old  North- 
umbrian counsellor  who  told  his  king  that  since  life 
was  but  as  a  bird's  flight  through  their  own  warm  and 
lighted  hall,  in  from  the  darkness  and  out  into  the 
darkness,  —  since  their  own  faith  had  nothing  to  say 
of  that  outer  dark,  let  them  welcome  the  new  faith 
which  could.  Energy  of  fresh  and  high  belief  over- 
whelmed half-hearted  followers  of  custom.  When 
Christian  and  heathen  were  contending  in  Iceland 
what  religion  the  whole  nation  should  adopt,  the 
heathens  proposed  to  sacrifice  eight  men  to  the  gods. 
The  Christians  answered  by  calling  on  the  same  num- 
ber of  men  to  take  the  vows  of  a  pure  life,  —  a  pro- 
posal accepted  at  once  by  the  adherents  of  the  new 

1  W.  Muller,  Geschichte  u.  System  d.  altdeutschen  Religion  (hence- 
forth System),  p.  100. 

2  See  Dahn,  Bausteine,  1. 133-136,  where  many  examples  are  given. 


t  I 


!( 


ii. 


;| 


ftiiiaiiiuitt 


342 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


tt 


faith,  while  on  the  heathen  side  no  volunteers  what- 
ever could  be  found.i 

Christian  dogma  had  an  easy  victory.     It  was  a 
compact  and  logical  system  elaborated  by  the  subtlest 
intellects  of  the  time,  and  it  swept  the  loose  array 
of  myths  and  traditions  from  the  field.     But  the  old 
rites,  the  old  ceremonies,  and  even  the  shadowy  forms 
of  old  gods  and  goddesses,  so  far  as  they  had  been 
connected  with  cult,  lived  on.     The  rout  of  spirits 
and  demons,  with  a  slight  change  by  way  of  adapta- 
tion to  the  new  creed,  were  undisturbed,  and  held 
their  old  places  in  fireside  tradition  and  fireside  cult. 
On  certain  homely  occasions  even  the  great  divinities 
of  heathendom  could  be  invoked.     Says  J.  Grimm: 2 
"People   who  held  in  strictness   all   the  Christian 
creed  and  were  ready  to  persecute  and   damn  the 
doubter  about  trinitarian  dogmas  or  the  sinner  who 
broke  a  fast,  had  no  scruples  in  time  of  bodily  dis- 
ease, even  if  only  a  finger  was  hurt,  to  recite  incan- 
tations in  which  the  old  gods  were  called  upon  for 
help."     Even  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  Scandi- 
navian toothache  was  best  banned  by  a  direct  appeal, 
and  even  a  sort  of  sacrifice,  to   Thor.     Moreover, 
there  were  many  instances  where  men  endeavored  to 
serve  at  once  the  old  gods  and  the  new  faith ;  such 
was  the  case  with  ^thelbert  of  Kent,  who  allowed 
images  of  heathen  deities  to  stand  by  the  Christian 
altars.3     In   Frankish  Germany,  during   the   eighth 
century,  we  hear  of  priests  who  sacrifice  to  Wuotan 
(Woden),  attend  the  heathen  feasts,  and  yet  profess 

1  Vigfasson-Powell,  C.  P.  B.  1. 140,  and  references. 

2  Ueher  Marcellus  Burdigalensis,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  115. 
8  Grimm,  D.  M.*  III.  7. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  THE  DEAD 


343 


themselves  Christians  and  administer  the  rite  of  bap- 
tism.i     Again,  the  new  religion  had  yet  another  ally 
in   addition   to   the   waning   belief  of   heathendom. 
There  were  articles  of  faith  in  the  old  creed  which 
substantially  agreed  with  important  tenets   of  the 
new.2    The  church  assured  and  defined  that  vague 
but  insistent  belief  in  personal  immortality  which  is 
common  to  half-civilized  men  the  world  over ;  it  em- 
phasized the  sense  of  horror,  felt  as  strongly  by  the 
barbarian  as  by  Milton,^  at  the  thought  of  a  human 
soul  going  out  like  a  candle-flame  in  the  dark.     The 
soldiers  of  Ariovistus   fought  with   such   desperate 
courage,  explained  the  Roman  historian,  because  they 
knew  death  to  be  a  mere  transition  to  another  life. 
This,  of  course,  is   no  Germanic  peculiarity.     The 
Celtic  druids  held  so  strongly  to  the  notion  of  immor- 
tality that  they  actually  contracted  debts  which  were 
to  be  paid  in  the  next  world.*    Often  at  a  Celtic  ban- 
quet,  when  the  mirth  grew  dull,  some  accommodating 
young  warrior  would  kill  himself  in  novel  or  artistic 
fashion  to  divert  the  guests ;  it  was  only  a  step  into 
another  group,  where   with  old  comrades  he  could 
wait  —  in  those  days,  not  very  long  —  for  the  rest  of 

1  See  Rettberg,  I.  326. 

2  Rettberg,  I.  247  f.,  remarks  that  ethical  tendencies  of  our  heathen- 
dom, the  high  value  set  on  chastity  and  certain  forms  of  justice,  would 
wdcome  analogous  tendencies,  more  sharply  outlined,  of  the  new  re- 

^  Paradise  Lost,  II.  146: 

To  be  no  more :  aad  cure;  for  who  would  lose, 
Though  full  of  pain,  this  intellectual  being. 
Those  thoughts  that  wander  through  eternity, 
To  perish  rather,  swallowed  up  and  lost 
In  the  wide  womb  of  uncreated  night. 
Devoid  of  sense  and  motion  ? 

^  CaBsar  B.  G.  VI.  14,  and  Holtzmauu,  Deutsche  My  thai.  p.  196. 


I 


\ 


i 


<t 


mimm' ^''''iVnm '-j^  . 


344 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


the  company.     These  same  Celts  sold  themselves  to 
be  killed,  for  a  sum  of  money,  or  even  for  a  few 
casks  of  wine.i     This  is  crude  fatalism ;  and  we  must 
admit  that  the  church  vigorously  opposed   such  a 
phase  of  the  belief  in  immortality:  our  own  English 
jElfric,  for  example,  is  eloquent  against  it.     But  the 
more  general  notion  of  immortality  was  fixed  in  the 
heathen  mind;   the  new  religion  individualized,  en- 
nobled, and  confirmed  the  faith.     To  put  it  briefly, 
Christianity  forbade  that  a  man's  future  should  be 
merged,  after  the  heathen  fashion,  in  the  future  of 
his  family  or  clan  ;  it  treated  him  as  an  individual 
and  mediated  directly  between  him  and  God.     This 
personal  religion  began  by  slow  degrees  to  take  its 
place  in  the  midst  of  collective  and  ceremonial  relig- 
ion ;   and  thus  arose  that  great  modern  fact  which 
we  call  sentiment.     Contrast  the  ceremonial  worship 
of  a  heathen  clan  with  the  personal  sentiment  of  a 
mediseval  hymn!      Contrast  the   chorus,  the   feast, 
the  wide  pagan  publicity  of  worehip  (and  the  church 
took  care  to  preserve  a  plenty  of  this  element)  with 
the  direct  and  piercing  individualism  of  the  monk 
who  in  his  solitary  fervor  poured  out  such  words  as 

these :  — 

O  Deus,  ego  amo  te !  .  .  . 

Tu,  tu,  mi  Jesu,  totum  iiie 

Amplexus  es  iu  cruce, 

Tulisti  .  .  . 

Innumeros  dolores, 

Sudores  et  angores, 

Et  mortem  et  hsec  propter  me, 

Ah !  pro  me  peccatore  1 

State   and  family  religion,  with  the  head  of  state 

1  See  Mommsen,  Rome,  Dickson's  transl.  p.  277. 


I 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  THE  DEAD 


345 


or  family  as  priest,  yielded  ground  to  the  personal 
expression  of  awe,  of  reverence,  of  love ;  the  mere 
sense   of    conduct,   modern   writers   would  say,  be- 
came  the   sense    of  conduct    touched    by    emotion. 
From  our  notion  of  primitive  religion,  and  especially 
of  Germanic   heathendom,  we   must  take  pains  to 
clear  away  this  element   of  emotion  which  we  are 
so  apt  to  regard  as  the  chief  part  of  religion  itself. 
Where   to   seek   the   beginnings  of  sentiment  as  a 
factor  in  domestic,  social,  or  religious  life,  is  a  diffi- 
cult problem;   but  recent  writers  agree  that  it  is 
foreign  to  primitive  races,  and  even  that  it  is  a  result, 
not  a  cause  of  culture.     Certainly  the   church  did 
much  to  spread  it  over  rough  mediaeval  life ;  every- 
where we  find  her  ritual  toucliing  ancient  custom 
with  this  new  grace  of  emotion.     The  old  perfunc- 
tory service  to  the  dead,  the  journey  to  a  burial-place, 
and  the  food  or  treasure  heaped  upon  an  ancestor's 
grave,  became  a  memorial  service  and  a  wreath  of 
flowers;  the  act,  once  all  in  all,  became  a  symbol, 
for   modern   worship   places   or  professes    to    place 
more  weight  on  the  spirit  than  on  the  act.     "The 
kingdom   of  God  is  within  you."     It  is   therefore 
necessary  to  put  aside  our  modern   notion   of  wor- 
ship  when   we   come    to   examine    the    religion    of 
the  early  Germans.      We  have  seen  that  a  certain 
scepticism  about  the  tales  of  their  mythology,  a  cer- 
tain  familiarity  with  prominent  parts  of  the  new 
doctrine,  made  them  comparatively  docile  converts 
to  a  new  faith ;  but  what  we  most  need  to  consider 
is  the  nature  of  their  actual  cult,  the  observance  of 
their  practical  religion,  as  compared  with  the  pomp 
and  ritual  of  Rome.     How  much  of  this  pomp  was 


t 


•"mtai0' 


if! 


346 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


1 


forced  upon  the  church  in  place  of  the  earlier  sim- 
plicity of  apostolic  times,  is  an  open  question.  Not 
only  the  ceremonies  incident  to  a  state  religion 
brought  about  the  change ;  the  barbaric  races,  soon 
to  be  the  great  props  of  the  church,  were  incapable 
of  any  worship  which  scorned  external  helps  and 
which  needed  only  the  fervor  of  the  heart.  Hence 
the  accommodation  to  heathen  custom,  the  feasts,  the 
saints'-days ;  hence  all  the  external  attractions,  and 
the  subsequent  enlisting  of  every  art  from  music  to 

the  drama. 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  considerations 
that  the  one  religious  element  which  entered  into  the 
life  of  our  forefathers  was  the  round  of  ceremonies 
and  observances,  the  cult.  Myths  belong  elsewhere, 
and  are  a  part  of  Germanic  literature,  of  Germanic 
poetry.  In  these  pages  we  are  concerned  with  the 
cult,  and  shall  appeal  to  mythology  only  so  far  as  it 
throws  light  upon  the  history  of  Germanic  ceremony 
and  superstition. 

A  form  of  worship  found  in  all  low  grades  of  cul- 
ture, and  existing  everywhere  in  more  or  less  obvious 
survival,  is  the  worship  of  the  dead.^  A  favorite  with 
writers  on  anthropology,  this  territory  has  been  here- 
tofore greatly  neglected  by  the  mythologists.  At 
present,  however,  it  is  getting  more  and  more  atten- 
tion, and  must  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
important  divisions  in  the  study  of  religious  develop- 

1  For  the  sources  of  our  information  about  Germanic  worship,  see 
Grimm,  D.  M.,^  Vorrede,  Bd.  II.,  especially  pp.  x.  if. ;  and  E.  Mogk  in 
Paul's  Grdr.  d.  germ.  Phil.  I.  984  ff.  See  the  same  work,  998  ff.,  for 
the  special  subject  of  this  chapter,  and  references. 


MpHMtoWQW 


THE    WORSHIP   OF   THE   DEAD 


347 


ment.^  We  may  in  the  main  accept  for  Germanic 
people  generally  the  statement  of  Vigfusson  and 
Powell,  with  regard  to  Scandinavian  antiquity,  that 
"  the  habitual  and  household  worship  of  ancestors " 
was  "  the  main  cult  of  the  older  religion."  ^ 

This  worship  of  the  dead  we  shall  assume  as  a  defi- 
nite fact  in  primitive  culture,  and  shall  make  little 
inquiry  in  regard  to  its  origin.^  The  dead  were 
thought  to  lead  as  spirits  an  existence  which  closely 
resembled  actual  life ;  as  head  of  a  family,  the  dead 
man  exacted  tribute  from  his  surviving  children  and 
grandchildren ;  they  continued  to  obey  his  supposed 
demands,  and  perhaps  ascribed  petty  but  mysterious 
ailments  to  his  anger  at  neglected  duty.  At  least, 
we  have  the  well-known  modern  instance  of  an  African 
chief  who  suddenly  took  leave  of  his  white  guest,  say- 
ing that  since  his  head  ached  violently,  he  knew  that 
his  dead  father  was  scolding  him,  and  he  must  hasten 
to  offer  something  to  the  angry  spirit.    A  regular  cult 

1  E.  H.  Meyer  formally  incorporates  it  in  his  system  of  mjrthology 
(Indogermanische  3hjthen,  I.  188.3;  II.  1887).  Holtzmann  recognized 
it,  cautiously  enough,  saying  that  a  material  part  of  the  old  heathen 
religion  was  worship  and  service  of  ancestors.  Perhaps,  he  adds,  "it 
was  harder  for  the  church  to  suppress  this  sort  of  worship  than  the 
worship  of  the  gods"  (Deutsche  Myth.  p.  202).  He  had  leaned  to  the 
same  opinion  in  his  Germanische  Alterthumer.  Vigfusson  and  Powell 
assert  the  fondness  of  Scandinavians  for  this  manes-cult,  and  cite  the 
testimony  of  Jordanes  for  its  popularity  among  the  Goths;  ancestors 
of  the  royal  Gothic  house  were  Anses,  — "not  men,  but  demigods,"  — 
who  were  worshipped  by  their  descendants.  J.  Grimm  himself  collects 
abundant  material  in  regard  to  the  sur\ivals  and  traditions  of  such 
worsliip.    See  especially  Chap.  XXXI.  of  the  Mythology. 

2  C.  P.  B.  I.  413. 

«  Ample  material  in  Spencor,  Sociology ;  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture 
aud  Early  History  of  Mankind;  Lippert,  Culturgeschichte,  etc.  For 
an  opposing  theory,  see  the  introduction  (by  J.  S.  Stuart-Glennie,  M.A.) 
to  Lucy  M.  Garnett's  The  WQ)nen  of  Turkey  and  Their  Folk-Lore  : 
The  Christian  Women,  London  and  New  York,  1890. 


■tfifiMa 


348 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


11 


of  the  dead  is  one  of  the  stubbornest  facts  of  human 
history,  and  in  the  refined  form  of  "Spiritualism" 
counts  thousands  and  thousands  of  votaries  to-day. 
In  its  grosser  manifestations,  it  was  contrary  to  the 
teachings  of  Christianity,  and  hence  our  best  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  a  Germanic  spirit-cult  is  to  be  found 
in  the  various  edicts  and  regulations  of  the  early 
church.  The  canons  of  Eadgar  ^  forbid  swearing  or 
bewitching  %  means  of  the  dead ;  licwigelung  is  evi- 
dently the  same  as  necromancy ;  and  proof  that  this 
ban  was  needed  may  be  found  in  an  old  interpretation 
of  dreams,  —  taken,  of  course,  from  the  Latin,  but 
current  and  approved  in  Anglo-Saxon  popular  lore,  — 
which  tells  us  that  it  is  a  token  of  good  fortune  to 
talk  with  the  dead.^  "  If  [one]  dreams  that  he  kisses 
a  dead  man,  that  is  good  and  long  life."  ^  That  the 
neighborhood  of  sepulchres  hallowed  a  place  and  made 
it  likely  to  prosper,  was  a  widespread  belief.  An 
Anglo-Saxon  charm  or  incantation,  one  of  several  for 
the  use  of  women  in  pregnancy,  opens  with  the  follow- 
ing directions :  "  The  woman  who  cannot  bring  forth 
her  child  should  go  to  a  dead  man's  grave  (hirgenne'), 
and  step  thrice  over  the  grave  and  speak  then  these 
words.  .  .  ."  And  further  on  in  the  same  charm 
(v.  15),  we  have  the  efficacy  of  the  "  barrow  "  or  sepul- 
chre more  directly  attested.*  So,  too,  there  seems  to 
have  been  at  Anglo-Saxon  funerals  more  or  less 
heathen  ceremony  which  pointed  directly  to  the  wor- 

1  Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes,  p.  397. 
2'«Mid  deadum  spellian  [sprecan]  gestrion  hit  getacna«."    Cock- 
ayne, LeechdomSy  III.  202 ;  twice  on  the  page. 
8  Ibid.  III.  174,  208. 
*  Wulker-Grein,  Bihl.  d.  Ags.  PoesiCr  I.  326  f . 


THE   WORSHIP   OF  THE   DEAD 


349 


ship  of  the  dead.  JElfric  tells  ^  the  priests  of  his  time 
not  to  go  to  funerals  unless  invited,  a  praiseworthy 
but  commonplace  piece  of  advice;  then,  however, 
adds  that  if  they  do  go,  they  are  to  forbid  ''the 
heathen  songs  of  the  laity  (loewedra)  and  their  loud 
laughter,"  and  not  to  eat  nor  drink  where  the  corpse 
is  lying ;  this  he  commands  in  order  that  good  church- 
men shall  not  imitate  heathen  ways.  Further,^  the 
Indiculm  Superstitionum  et  Paganiarum^  referring  to 
the  continental  Saxons  and  dating  from  the  year  743, 
speaks  first  of  all  de  sacrilegio  ad  sepidchra  mortuorum 
and  de  sacrilegio  super  defunctos^  id  est^  "  dadsisas,"  — 
of  sacrilege  at  the  graves  of  the  dead,  and  of  sacrilege 
over  dead  persons  ;  that  is,  dadsisas.  This  last  word 
is  explained  by  Grimm  ^  as  a  "  song  of  lament  for  the 
dead  " ;  and  that  it  was  not  a  mere  funeral-song  as 
we  understand  the  phrase,  but  rather  belonged  with 
offerings  and  sacrificial  rites  to  the  dead,  is  made 
probable  by  the  urgent  opposition  of  the  church.  In 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Confessional  of  Ecgberht  it  is  pro- 
vided that  "whosoever  in  the  place  where  a  man  lies 
dead  shall  burn  corn  for  the  good  of  living  persons 
and  in  his  house,*  shall  fast  five  winters."  The  corn 
was  burnt  for  the  benefit  of  the  dead  man,  who  would 
for  this  reason  look  with  favor  upon  the  survivors. 
Again  and  again  the  church  forbids  these  offerings 
and  songs  and  other  ceremonies  in  connection  with 

1  Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes,  p.  448.  Most  of  the  older 
literature  on  this  subject  was  collected  by  Bouterwek  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  his  Csedmon. 

2  See  D.  MA  III.  403  ft. ;  also  p.  406  f.,  extract  from  Burchard  of 
Worms,  10.  10 ;  10.  34 ;  etc.  8  Grimm,  D.  MA  I.  1027. 

*  As  Bouterwek  {Csedmon,  p.  Ixxxvii.)  notes,  the  Latin  text  reads 
"pro  sanitate  ^'^ventium  et  domus.^^ 


igsSn-'iaeg 


If  • 


I  ■ 


I-      -j 


350 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


the  dead;^  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was 
a  matter  of  worship  rather  than  of  ordinary  grief. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  barrow-song  or  lyke-song^  was 
no  mere  threnody.  People  prayed  by  night,  stand- 
ing at  the  ancient  places  of  burial ;  originally  the 
prayers  were  to  the  dead,  but,  no  doubt,  in  course 
of  time  were  directed  to  gods  or  demigods  of 
tradition,  for  whom  the  grave-stone  served  as  an 
altar. 

Popular  faith  had  little  to  do  with  abstractions; 
and  when  the  dead  were  addressed  in  prayer,  they 
were  thought  to  be  personally  involved  in  a  palpable 
and  questionable  shape.  Hence  the  many  spells  or 
incantations  to  raise  the  dead  and  bid  them  open 
mysteries  of  the  present  or  the  future.  Hence  the 
Old  Norse  valgaldr,  a  charm  or  incantation  meant  to 
awaken  the  sleeper  from  his  heavy  death-slumber ;  in 
particular,  it  is  a  spell  by  which  Odin  forces  the 
sibyl  to  rise  from  her  grave  and  foretell  the  fate  of 
Balder.3  "  On  Woden  rode  .  .  .  till  he  came  to  the 
lofty  hall  of  Hell,  then  Woden  rode  to  its  eastern 
gate  where  he  knew  the  sibyl's  barrow  stood.  He 
fell  to  chanting  the  mighty  spells  that  move  the  dead 
(yalgaldr)^  till  she  rose  all  unwilling  and  her  corpse 
spake."  Schullerus*  cites  a  similar  case  in  Saxo 
Grammaticus,  where  Hadingus  wishes  to  ascertain 
particulars  of  his  own  fate,  and  compels  a  dead  man 
to  give  the  required  information;  bits  of  wood  are 

1  Christian  priests  took  part  in  them,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the 
church.    Rettberg,  I.  32G. 

2  Bi/rgensang ;  Ucsanfj.    See  also  D.  M.*  I.  1027  f. 

8  VeqtamskvitSa,  called  by  Vigfusson  and  Powell  Balder's  Doom, 
C.  P.  B.  1. 182.  The  translation,  used  here,  always  gives  the  English 
form  of  the  names,  as  Woden  for  Odin.         *  P.-B.  Beit.  XII.  236,  note. 


ii»-»rtiia)iiiti-|i»i»if" 


I     fl 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


351 


laid  under  his  tongue,  a  device  which  reminds  us 
somewhat  of  the  miracle  told  in  Chaucer's  Prioresses 
Tale,  and  the  corpse  thereupon  begins  to  speak.  Of 
course,  dira  carmina,  runes  and  incantations,  are  wiit- 
ten  on  these  fragments.  In  another  Old  Norse  poem,^ 
the  disguised  Odin  says  that  he  learned  his  sharp 
words  from  the  old  people  who  live  "m  the  home- 
graves,''  ^  Everywhere  in  the  old  Scandinavian  life 
we  find  traces  of  this  direct  worship  of  the  dead; 
sacrifices  were  made  to  them  in  order  to  insure  good 
crops,  and  the  ceremony  was  conducted  by  the  head  of 
the  family  among  the  ancestral  graves.^  Authr  was 
a  rich  woman  who  had  embraced  the  new  faith ;  but 
when  she  was  dead  and  buried  in  a  certain  mountain, 
her  descendants,  who  kept  their  heathendom,  made 
an  altar  there  and  brought  sacrifice,  and  believed  that 
all  of  Authr's  kin  would  gather  after  death  within  this 
mountain.^  It  is  easy,  as  many  scholars  have  pointed 
out,  to  see  the  connection  between  this  worship  of 
ancestml  dead  near  the  cave  or  hill  in  which  they  are 
buried,  and  the  countless  myths  and  legends  which 
tell  of  a  prince  or  chieftain  who  "  sleeps  "  in  a  moun- 
tain, and  will  one  day  ride  forth  to  conquest.^  The 
sacrificial  feast  at  an  ancestral  grave  lingered  long  in 
survival.  In  the  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales,^ 
we  are  told  that  certain  craftsmen  had  so  prospered 
in  the  world  that  they  were  fit  to  be  aldermen ;  and 

1  HarbarSslj.  44. 

*  Reading  haugxim  with  Hildebrand  and  the  English  editors,  instead 
of  skogum=  forests,  as  others  have  it. 

8  C.  P.  B.  I.  413  ff.  4  Landndma  IsL  S.  I. 

5  Mogk's  protest  (Paul's  Grdr.  p.  1005)  against  the  custom  of  re- 
garding all  these  legends  as  so  many  Woden  myths,  is  surely  well 
founded.  6  y.  375  ff. 


\ 


352 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


to  this  dignity  their  wives  would  surely  make  no 
objection,  for  — 

It  is  ful  fair  to  ben  yclept  Madame, 

And  gon  to  vigilies  al  byfore, 

And  have  a  mantel  riallyche  ibore.  .  .  . 

Precedence,  a  matter  of  old  tradition  evidently, 
obtained  at  the  vigilies,  that  is,  the  meetings  of  the 
parishioners  "  in  their  church-houses  or  church-yards, 
where  they  were  wont  to  have  a  drinking-fit  for  the 
time,"  and  where  "  they  used  to  end  many  quarrels 
between  neighbor  and  neighbor."  In  1638,  "  one  of 
the  Suffolk  articles  of  inquiry  was:  'Have  any 
Playes,  Feasts,  Banquets,  Suppers,  Church  Ales, 
Drinkings,  Temporal  Courts  or  Leets,  Lay  Juries, 
Musters,  Exercise  of  Dancing,  Stoole  hall.  Foot  hall,  or 
the  like,  or  any  other  profane  usage  been  suffered  to 
be  kept  in  your  Church,  Chappell  or  Church  Yard  ? '  "  ^ 
It  is  easy  to  see  the  connection  with  ancient  rites. 
Dancing  in  gmveyards  gave  frequent  scandal  in 
England;  and  we  shall  presently  see  the  same  sur- 
vival in  the  rites  of  burial. 

Recurring  to  the  actual  worship  of  the  dead,  we 
find  testimony  in  Beda,^  who,  speaking  of  the  several 
months,  says  that  February,  called  solmonath,  is  the 
"  month  of  cakes,"'  which  at  this  time  were  offered  by 
the  heathen  to  their  gods  ;  ^  whereupon  Holtzmann 
remarks  that  for  "gods"  we  should  probably  read 
"spirits" — manihus^     These  offerings  were  made 

1  Brand,  **  Churchyards."  2  De  temp.  rat.  c.  15. 

«  "  Solmonath  did  potest  mensis  placentarum  quas  in  eo  dis  suis 
offerebant."  See  also  Grimm,  G.  D.  S.  p.  77,  who  approves  Beda's  ety- 
mology. 

*  D.  M.  (Holtzmann)  p.  202.    "  Die  G«)tter  sind  die  Vorfahren." 


< 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


353 


at  the  graves,  which  then  as  now  were  marked  by 
stones;  church  edicts  keep  forbidding  laymen  to 
make  sacrifice  "at  stones."  Kristnisaga  tells  of  a 
bishop  who  sang  Christian  spells  over  a  stone  where 
the  "  family  spirit "  was  thought  to  dwell ;  at  last 
the  piety  of  the  prelate  had  its  reward,  and  the  stone 
burst  asunder.^ 

The  dead  were  supposed  to  abide  either  in  the 
immediate  tomb  or  else  in  that  vast  realm  which  is 
only  the  infinite  projection  of  the  tomb,  the  so-called 
underworld  or  domain  of  hell.  So  that  the  inmate, 
when  conjured  to  appear,  may  make  immediate  ap- 
pearance, or  else  come  as  from  a  long  journey.  When 
Odin's  strong  charm  conjures  up  the  sibyl,  she  com- 
plains :  "  What  mortal  is  it  .  .  .  that  hath  put  me 
to  this  weary  journey  ?  I  have  been  snowed  on  with 
the  snow,  I  have  been  beaten  with  the  rain,  I  have 
been  drenched  with  the  dew,  long  have  I  been  dead."^ 
Similarly,  Helgi's  appearance  is  described  by  Sigrun, 
when  she  meets  him  at  the  barrow.  We  are  justified 
in  assuming  with  Schullerus  that  the  grave  is  in  the 
closest  connection  with  Hel's  cold  and  dreary  domin- 
ions.^ Mostly,  however,  the  dead  are  conceived  to  be 
close  at  hand,  resting  in  the  narrow  cell  or  invisibly 
haunting  the  scenes  of  their  active  life.^  Significant 
perhaps  in  this  regard  is  the  saying  of  Tacitus  about 
Germanic  sepulchres,^  that  no  monuments  are  raised 
above  them  because  such  would  be  too  heavy  for  the 
departed ;  ^  it  may  be,  however,  only  a  piece  of  Tacitean 

1  C.  P.  B.  I.  416. 

^  C.  P.  B.l.  182,  translation  of  Vigfusson  and  Powell. 
8  Ziir  Kritik  d.  Valhollglaxihens,  P.-B.  Beit.  XII.  238. 
■*  Material  for  Scandinavian  belief,  C  P.  B.  I.  415  f. 
s  Oerm.  XXVII.  6  ut  gravem  defunetis. 


A 


, ««.  ,«<«s.»»,..  •«-_ -..^...^ 


354 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


! 


I 


rhetoric,  with  chief  application  to  the  pomp  of  Roman 
burial.  Certainly  the  dead  were  thought  to  continue 
their  existence  in  the  tomb,  and  hence  we  find  the 
earliest  barrow  built  in  the  shape  of  a  house,  where 
the  body  or  even  the  ashes  of  the  old  freeman  could 
still  find  a  home.  The  Viking  who  lived  on  the  sea 
was  fain  to  have  a  ship-tomb.  If  we  may  believe 
many  writers  on  sociology,  the  temple  of  worship  is 
merely  a  development  of  the  house  built  over  the 
dead,  where  the  altar  represents  the  sepulchre  itself. 
The  custom  of  carrying  food  to  graves  and  of  eating 
near  them,  is  a  survival  of  the  greater  banquets  and 
sacrificial  ceremonies  at  the  tomb,  where  the  dead  and 
the  living  were  supposed  to  share  the  feast.  Drink- 
ing with  the  dead  became  drinking  to  the  dead ;  hence 
the  Roman  libation  and  our  modern  silent  toast, 
known  in  olden  times  as  the  Minne  Drink.  "At  the 
burial  of  a  [Scandinavian]  king,  a  beaker  was  pre- 
sented which  was  called  Bragafull ;  every  one  present 
arose,  made  a  solemn  vow  and  emptied  it.  .  .  .  This 
custom  was  not  given  up  at  the  conversion,  but  one 
drank  the  minne  of  Christ  or  of  Mary  or  of  one  of 
the  saints."^  Minne  is  "loving  memory."  The  erfi  or 
wake  in  Old  Norse  times  was  a  most  important  affair, 
and  we  read  of  guests  to  the  number  of  fourteen  hun- 
dred ;  while  in  England  the  arval  or  arvil  was  kept  up 
until  comparatively  modern  times,  with  such  outlay 
for  food  and  drink  that  "  it  cost  less  to  portion  off  a 
daughter  than  to  bury  a  dead  wife."  ^  Jordanes  tells 
of  the  endless  feasting  and  drinking  of  the  Huns  at 
the  burial  of  Attila,  a  ceremony  which  was  called 


1  Grimm,  D.  M.*  48  f.     See  also  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  I.  96,  and 
references.  2  Brand,  "Funeral  Entertainpjents." 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE  DEAD 


355 


strava.^  Moreover,  the  games  which  were  celebrated 
at  the  funeral  of  an  important  personage  seemed  to 
have  been  meant  in  the  earliest  times  as  an  affair  in 
which  the  dead  man  took  actual  part.  For  some  rea- 
son these  feasts  and  games  were  specially  forbidden 
by  clerical  authorities ;  but  an  easy  compensation 
was  offered  in  a  custom  which  amounted  to  little  less 
than  actual  worship  of  the  dead,  —  the  saints'-days 
celebrated  by  the  church.  "  All  Souls  "  is  a  signifi- 
cant name.  A  general  feast,  which  we  may  take  to 
have  been  in  honor  of  the  dead,  was  held  by  the 
ancient  Germans,  and  is  mentioned  by  Widukind, 
abbot  of  the  monastery  at  Corvey  on  the  Weser,  who 
about  980  wrote  a  history  of  the  (continental)  Saxons. 
"  Thereupon  ^  for  three  days  they  held  their  feast  of 
victory,  shared  the  booty,  paid  the  wonted  military 
honors  to  their  slain  companions,  and  praised  unmeas- 
uredly  the  courage  of  their  general.  .  .  .  Now  all 
this  happened,  as  runs  the  tradition  of  our  forefathers, 
on  the  first  of  October,  and  these  heathen  festivals 
have  been  changed  by  the  consecration  of  pious  men, 
into  fasting  and  prayer  and  offerings  for  all  departed 
Christian  souls."  ^  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Widu- 
kind's  story  deals  with  no  isolated  event,  but  with  an 
immemorial  Germanic  rite. 

This  time-honored  and  doubtless  precious  ceremony 
of  Germanic  heathendom  the  church  accepted  with 
but  slight  modification.  It  was  called  the  feast  of 
All  Souls,  and  was  placed,  not  far  from  its  old  date, 
on   the  second  day  of  November;   autumn   is  the 

1  Jordan.  XLIX. 

2  After  a  great  victory  over  the  Thuringians  in  the  sixth  century. 

8  Widukind  (in  Geschichtschreiber  d.  deutsch.  Vorzeit)  I.  12.  Cf. 
also  W.  Miiller,  System,  p.  74. 


i      ■: 


tt 


ii 


356 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


proper  season   for  any  memento  mori,  and  with  the 
equinoctial  storms,  the  fall  of  leaf,  the  frost,  the  roar 
of  winds  when  Woden  and  his  train  of  spirits  sweep 
the  sky,  man  easily  blends  the  universal  picture  of 
decay  and  the  remembrance  of  parted  souls.^     The 
meaning  of  this  All-Souls  festival  lingered  long  among 
the  peasants  of  modern  Europe,  and  does  not  lack 
analogy  in  older  systems.     Grimm  2  sees  connection 
between   this   feast,   when    people   visit   graveyards 
and  lay  garlands  on  the  tomb,  and  the  three  festal 
days  in  Roman  custom,  when  the  underworld    was 
thought  to  open  and  the  spirits  to  revisit  upper  air. 
On  the  night  of  the  second  of  November,  the  Estho- 
nians  set  out  food  for  the  spirits ;  and  near  Dorpat, 
souls  of  the  departed  are  then  received  in  the  bath- 
room and,   one   after  the   other,  bathed.     That  the 
church  has  so  purged  away  the  grosser  elements  of 
this  festival  and  made  it  a  memorial  service,  does 
infinite  credit  to  those  who  brought  about  the  change ; 
and  it  reflects  little  honor  on  the  Protestants  to  have 
abolished  it.^ 

Such  univei-sal  worship  of  the  dead  reflected  the 
private  and  particular  custom.  Every  hearthstone 
was  an  altar,  and  the  father  of  the  family  was  its 
priest.  Wherever  settled  abodes  were  known,  this 
altar  was  hallowed,  and  in  many  cases  the  fire  burned 
there  without  intermission  throughout  the  year.  Here 
lingered  the  ancestral  spirits,  protecting  and  helpful ; 
and  here  the  head  of  the  family  offered  to  them  food 
and  drink,  asked  their  help,  cast  lots,  and  sang  the 

1  See  Pfannenschmidt,  Erntefeste,  p.  128,  165.      2  7).  3f.4  751^  note  1. 
3  It  has  been  restored  in  the  reformed  church  of  Prussia  and  Saxony. 
Pfannenschmidt,  Ernte/este,  p.  168. 


I 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  DEAD 


357 


incantation.  The  great  memorial  feasts  of  the  people 
which  Widukind  describes  were  matched  by  the 
private  feasts  of  the  different  families.  The  funeral 
itself  was  only  the  first  of  a  series  of  feasts;  the 
dead  man  took  his  place  among  the  ancestral  spirits, 
and  the  survivors  shared  with  him  and  his  new  asso- 
ciates the  food,  the  drink,  the  song,  and  the  dance. 
In  the  eighth  century,  popes  were  forced  to  forbid 
the  too  outspoken  heathen  character  of  a  popular 
funeral,  the  "  profana  sacrilegia  mortuoruin."  ^  We 
have  seen  ^Ifric's  advice  to  the  priests  of  England 
that  they  should  not  frequent  funerals  of  this  sort. 
But  the  church  was  far  too  wise  to  undertake  any 
sweeping  measure.  The  old  rites  were  forbidden  so 
far  as  the  grosser  heathen  characteristics  of  them 
were  concerned,  or  were  changed,  when  it  was  prac- 
ticable, into  petty  ceremonies,  or,  finally,  were  per- 
mitted to  endure  in  a  lingering  and  for  the  most  part 
dwindling  survival.  For  English  customs,  the  col- 
lection of  Brand  ^  gives  ample  material ;  and  the 
survivals  of  southern  Germany  and  Switzerland  have 
been  carefully  studied  by  Rochholz.^  Whoever,  in 
Switzerland,  has  the  duty  of  watching  with  a  corpse, 
must  have  unlimited  supply  of  brandy  and  wine. 
Prodigality  and  reckless  expenditure  prevail  among 
this  otherwise  economical  and  thrifty  race  so  soon  as 
a  funeral  is  concerned ;  they  believe  that  any  mean- 
ness displayed  at  this  time  on  the  part  of  the  heirs 
will  rob  the  dead  man  of  his  rest  in  the  grave.     It  is 

1  Cf.  Pfannenschmidt,  Ernte/este,  p.  166;  the  pope  is  Gregory  III.  in 
739. 

2  Antiquities,  **  Watching  with  the  Dead." 

8  Deiitscher  Glaube  u.  Branch  im  Spiegel  d.  heidnischen  Vorzeit,  I. 
194ff.,299ff. 


'    ■/] 


356 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


proper  season  for  any  memento  mori,  and  with  the 
equinoctial  storms,  the  fall  of  leaf,  the  frost,  the  roar 
of  winds  when  Woden  and  his  train  of  spirits  sweep 
the  sky,  man  easily  blends  the  universal  picture  of 
decay  and  the  remembrance  of  parted  souls.^  The 
meaning  of  this  All-Souls  festival  lingered  long  among 
the  peasants  of  modern  Europe,  and  does  not  lack 
analogy  in  older  systems.  Grimm  ^  sees  connection 
between  this  feast,  when  people  visit  graveyards 
and  lay  garlands  on  the  tomb,  and  the  three  festal 
days  in  Roman  custom,  when  the  underworld  was 
thought  to  open  and  the  spirits  to  revisit  upper  air. 
On  the  night  of  the  second  of  November,  the  Estho- 
nians  set  out  food  for  the  spirits ;  and  near  Dorpat, 
souls  of  the  departed  are  then  received  in  the  bath- 
room and,  one  after  the  other,  bathed.  That  the 
church  has  so  purged  away  the  grosser  elements  of 
this  festival  and  made  it  a  memorial  service,  does 
infinite  credit  to  those  who  brought  about  the  change ; 
and  it  reflects  little  honor  on  the  Protestants  to  have 
abolished  it.^ 

Such  universal  worship  of  the  dead  reflected  the 
private  and  particular  custom.  Every  hearthstone 
was  an  altar,  and  the  father  of  the  family  was  its 
priest.  Wherever  settled  abodes  were  known,  this 
altar  was  hallowed,  and  in  many  cases  the  fire  burned 
there  without  intermission  throughout  the  year.  Here 
lingered  the  ancestral  spirits,  protecting  and  helpful ; 
and  here  the  head  of  the  family  offered  to  them  food 
and  drink,  asked  their  help,  cast  lots,  and  sang  the 

1  See  Pfannenschmidt,  Erntefeste,  p.  128,  165.      2  £>.  MM61,  note  1. 
3  It  has  been  restored  in  the  reformed  church  of  Prussia  and  Saxony. 
Pfannenschmidt,  Erntefeste,  p.  168. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE   DEAD 


357 


incantation.  The  great  memorial  feasts  of  the  people 
which  Widukind  describes  were  matched  by  the 
private  feasts  of  the  different  families.  The  funeral 
itself  was  only  the  first  of  a  series  of  feasts;  the 
dead  man  took  his  place  among  the  ancestral  spirits, 
and  the  survivors  shared  with  him  and  his  new  asso- 
ciates the  food,  the  drink,  the  song,  and  the  dance. 
In  the  eighth  century,  popes  were  forced  to  forbid 
the  too  outspoken  heathen  character  of  a  popular 
funeral,  the  "profana  sacrilegia  mortuorum."  ^  We 
have  seen  ^Ifric's  advice  to  the  priests  of  England 
that  they  should  not  frequent  funerals  of  this  sort. 
But  the  church  was  far  too  wise  to  undertake  any 
sweeping  measure.  The  old  rites  were  forbidden  so 
far  as  the  grosser  heathen  characteristics  of  them 
were  concerned,  or  were  changed,  when  it  was  prac- 
ticable, into  petty  ceremonies,  or,  finally,  were  per- 
mitted to  endure  in  a  lingering  and  for  the  most  part 
dwindling  survival.  For  English  customs,  the  col- 
lection of  Brand  ^  gives  ample  material ;  and  the 
survivals  of  southern  Germany  and  Switzerland  have 
been  carefully  studied  by  Rochholz.^  Whoever,  in 
Switzerland,  has  the  duty  of  watching  with  a  corpse, 
must  have  unlimited  supply  of  brandy  and  wine. 
Prodigality  and  reckless  expenditure  prevail  among 
this  otherwise  economical  and  thrifty  race  so  soon  as 
a  funeral  is  concerned ;  they  believe  that  any  mean- 
ness displayed  at  this  time  on  the  part  of  the  heirs 
will  rob  the  dead  m*an  of  his  rest  in  the  grave.     It  is 


C/.  Pfannenschmidt,  Erntefeste,  p.  166;  the  pope  is  Gregory  III.  in 


739. 


2  Antiquities,  **  Watching  with  the  Dead." 

8  Deiitscher  Glaube  u.  Branch  im  Spiegel  d.  heidnischen  Vorzeit,  I. 
194  if.,  299  ff. 


358 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE    WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


359 


not  hard  to  summon  a  host  of  parallel  cases,  from  the 
funeral  of  an  Irish  Romanist  to-day,  back  to  the  pecu- 
liar ceremonies  among  the  Finnish  tribes  described 
to  King  Alfred  by  the  sailor  Wulfstan.  During  one 
of  these  peasant  funerals  in  Switzerland  the  bake- 
oven  in  the  house  of  death  must  not  become  cold  for 
the  space  of  three  days  between  decease  and  burial ; 
bread  and  cheese  are  free  to  all  comers.  Food  of 
this  sort,  thinks  the  peasant,  gives  far  more  strength 
than  does  one's  daily  bread:  an  ounce  goes  as  far 
now  as  two  pounds  eaten  at  another  time  !  ^  A  per- 
son known  as  the  Leidfrau  or  mourning-woman  is 
charged  with  the  main  ceremonies ;  and  cases  ^  are 
on  record  where  a  part  of  her  duty  was  to  offer  bread, 
salt,  and  wine  to  the  spirits  of  the  house,  the  ancestral 
souls.  Before  the  coffin  is  closed  —  we  are  still  with 
Rochholz's  Swiss  peasants  —  each  member  of  the 
family  grasps  in  farewell  the  hand  of  the  deceased. 
During  the  actual  bearing  of  the  body  to  its  last 
resting-place,  bread  and  wine  are  distributed.  The 
burial  over,  —  and  the  corpse  of  the  Christian  peasant 
like  that  of  his  heathen  ancestor  must  be  buried  fac- 
ing east, — there  are  thirty  days  of  mourning;  the 
third,  the  seventh,  and  the  thirtieth  of  these  are  cele- 
brated by  certain  rites  in  the  church.  Every  morn- 
ing, however,  the  Leidfrau  goes  to  mass ;  says  thirty 
pater-nosters  at  the  grave  on  the  first,  and  one  less 
each  day  during  the  month ;  and  has  numerous  other 
duties  to  perform,  in  return  for  which  she  has  pre- 
scribed allowance  of  food  and  di-ink,  a  new  garment, 
and,  above  all,  place  at  the  funeral-feasts.  These,  as 
Rochholz  says,  make  the  chief  article  of  the  Swiss 


1  Rochholz,  p.  1<>5. 


2  As  late  as  18(50  in  Servia. 


peasant's  luxury  in  life.  Peasants  of  to-day  still  think 
the  more  they  eat  and  drink  at  a  funeral,  "  the  better 
it  is  for  the  dead."  Church  and  state  have  been  trying 
for  a  thousand  years  to  reduce  the  size  and  cost  of 
these  banquets ;  and  here  we  see  again  the  ethical 
character  of  Christianity  face  to  face  with  the  merely 
ceremonial  nature  of  heathendom.  The  church  could 
not  brook  singing,  revel,  and  actual  dancing  at  this 
solemn  ceremony,  and  held  up  the  duty  of  genuine 
sorrow  for  the  dead.  Repeated  decrees  insisted  on 
the  "  diabolical "  character,  "  contrary  to  human  na- 
ture," of  such  customs ;  and  forbade  as  far  as  possible 
the  rude  revelry  and  noise.  Such  remains  of  the  old 
habit  as  were  tolerated  by  the  authorities  became  in 
due  time  the  theme  of  attack  by  reforming  opponents 
of  the  church ;  and  as  late  as  our  own  century  there 
are  cases  of  actual  dancing  in  honor  of  the  dead, 
preceded  of  course  by  a  sort  of  memorial  service,  in 
mourning  garb,  within  the  church.^  Add  to  these 
grosser  survivals  the  minor  superstitions  of  peasants 
everywhere  in  Europe,  the  bit  of  food  flung  into 
the  fire,  thrown  out  of  the  window,  or  set  upon 
the  roof  "for  the  poor  spirits,"  the  lore  of  house- 
goblins,  and  the  little  observances  of  the  same 
sort  practised  by  the  laborer  in  the  field,  —  all 
these  things  point  to  the  once  univei-sal  cult  of  the 
dead.2 

Where  survival  seemed  dangerous,  and  where 
actual  uprooting  was  unwise,  the  church  turned  a 
heathen  ceremony  into  a  special  Christian  rite.     The 

1  Rochholz,  p.  317. 

2  For  feasts  with  the  dead,  see  further  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture, 
Chaps.  XL,  XII.,  and  particularly  Vol.  II.  30  ff. 


'    ai 


360 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


offerings  to  the  dead^  were  converted  into  gifts  for 
the  parish  poor;  and  we  even  find  the  two  objects 
recognized  for  the  same  act.  Thus  Rochholz  quotes 
from  the  Confessions  of  St.  Augustine  an  account 
of  the  practice  of  eating  and  drinking  among  the 
graves,  and  giving  a  share  to  the  poor,  —  a  custom 
of  certain  Christians  in  which  the  pious  mother  of 
the  saint  had  shared.  But  in  more  modern  times  the 
feeding  of  the  poor  has  excluded  older  rites.  Poor 
and  sick  folk  took  the  place  of  the  dead;  and  the 
gifts  of  corn  and  wine  were  often  fixed  for  certain 
days,  especially  when  the  benefaction  assumed  the 
form  of  a  legacy  or  a  gift  of  the  dead  man's  heirs. 
As  regards  the  original  purpose  of  offerings  to  the 
spirit,  it  is  needless  to  point  out  how  closely  the  prac- 
tice of  buying  masses  for  the  dead  would  fit  ancestral 
notions.  Tylor^  quotes  the  invective  of  a  Manichsean 
who  charges  the  Christians  with  keeping  the  heathen 
ceremonial  under  a  new  name:  "Their  sacrifices 
indeed  ye  have  turned  into  love-feasts,  their  idols 
into  martyrs,  whom  with  like  vows  ye  worship ;  ye 
appease  the  shades  of  the  dead  with  wine  and  meals,  ye 
celebrate  the  Gentiles'  solemn  days  with  them.  .  .  ."^ 
Thus  the  church,  true  to  its  general  theory  that  sorrow 
of  a  practical  character  should  take  the  place  of  mere 
revel  and  a  crass  notion  of  the  dead  man's  participation, 
instituted  the  solemn  ceremony  of  masses  for  the  dead, 
an  infinite  gain  over  older  and  ruder  rites.     With 

1  An  allusion  to  this  among  other  races  is  found  in  Tohit,  iv.  17. 
"  Pour  out  thy  bread  on  the  burial  of  the  just,  but  give  nothing  to  the 
wicked." 

2  P.  C.  II.  34  f .     Cf.  also  Hampson,  Medii  JEvi  Kalendarium,  53  f. 

3  Tylor  (p.  35)  gives  a  number  of  survivals,  coming  down  to  modern 
times. 


I' 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


361 


the  steady  growth  of  the  doctrines  concerning  purga- 
tory, masses  for  the  dead  assumed  an  overwhelming 
importance.  Moreover,  the  church  encouraged  the 
worship  of  patron-saints,  and  in  this  way  kept  up  a 
venerable  institution  of  heathendom.  For  the  patron- 
saint  seems  to  be  legitimate  successor  of  the  "  guard- 
ian angel,"  the  "  genius,"  and  that  attendant  spirit  in 
which  the  old  Germans  believed.  Germanic  belief  gave 
to  every  man  a  protecting  spirit  or  follower ;  we  find 
the  best  information  on  the  matter  in  Scandinavian 
records.^  In  the  later  development  of  Norse  mythol- 
ogy, the  Valkyrias  seem  often  to  take  this  part ;  they 
follow  and  protect  a  chosen  hero,  and  at  his  death 
conduct  him  to  Valhalla.  In  the  legends  of  later 
Europe,  many  a  wood-fay,  white  lady,  or  fairy, 
may  still  become  in  this  way  the  protecting  spirit 
of  some  hero  and  share  his  mortal  love.  We  have  seen 
Svava  waiting  on  her  Helgi,  and  Sigrun  protecting 
Helgi  Hundingsbani ;  Sigrdrifa,  who  is  really  Bryn- 
hild,  loves  Sigurd.^  But  men  believed  in  a  more  pro- 
saic spirit,  —  a  far  older  belief  than  this  offspring  of 
the  Viking  age,  —  the  fi/lgj a,  an  invisible  guardian, 
only  to  be  seen  when  one  was  nigh  unto  death.  We 
remember  how  Drusus,  just  before  his  fatal  accident, 
saw  a  sort  of  fylgja ;  it  was  in  the  shape  of  a  bar- 
barian woman,  gigantic  in  form,  who  told  him  he 
dare  go  no  further.  So  Alexander  Severus  saw  a 
similar  figure  that  prophesied  misfortune ;  and  even 
Attila  was  confronted  by  a  rune-maiden  who  warned 
him  thrice  :  "  Back,  Attila !  "  In  the  Niahmga?  a 
heathen  Icelander  is  converted  under  the  condition 

1  Survivals  collected  by  Rochholz,  I.  92-130.       2  Grimm,  D.  M.^  361. 
8  C.  101. 


i, 


362 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WORSHIP  OF    THE   DEAD 


363 


that  he  may  have   the  Archangel   Michael  for   his 

"  following  angel," /t/?^ya  ew^i7^ ;  and  Grimm  ^  notes 

that  Michael  was  the  Christian  receiver  of  souls.     To 

see  this  following-spirit  meant  death ;  sometimes  one 

saw  it  in  shape  of  beast  or  bird.     Bjarki  saw  his  as  a 

bear;  raven,  and  later,  swan,  perform  a  similar  office.^ 

An  English  name  for  this  fylgja  is  the  fetch^  familiar 

enough  in  popular  superstition ;  while  its  highest  type 

is  the  conception  of  a  general  "  following-spirit,"  fate 

itself,   to   which  our  ancestors   gave    the    name   of 

Wyrd^  — 

The  wirdes  that  we  clepen  destanye, 

as  Chaucer^  puts  it.  This  conception  of  overmastering 
and  irrevocable  fate  makes  dark  background  in  our 
oldest  epic,  existing  side  by  side  with  Christian  influ- 
ences. "  Wyrd  wove  me  this,"  says  the  Anglo-Saxon  ; 
and  approaching  death  is  stated  in  similar  terms: 
"thy  Wyrd  stands  near  thee."  The  weird  sisters 
survive  in  Macbeth,  and  are  to  be  considered  more 
particularly  in  another  chapter.  "I  thought  I  saw 
dead  women,  poorly  clad,  come  in  here  to-night ; 
they  wished  to  choose  thee,  ..."  says  one  who  will 
prophesy  to  Gunnar  his  approaching  death.* 

The    "familiar   spirit"    is   not   far   off   from   this 

fylgja;    and    both   of   course   belong   to   spirit-cult. 

Moreover,  very  old  expressions  of  our  language  show 

this  notion  of  a  spirit  not  under  our  absolute  control 

—  its  precise  relation  to  the  ego  was  hardly  matter  of 

1  D.  M.  730.  The  festivals  of  St.  Michael,  says  Hampson,  are  obvi- 
ously purposed  *'  to  give  countenance  to  the  worship  of  angels."  Medii 
JEvi  Kalendarium,  II.  140.  They  are  also  connected  with  the  doctrine 
of  tutelar  spirits.    See  Brand,  Antiquities,  under  **  Michaelmas." 

2  D.  MA  III.  266.  3  Legende  Goode  Women,  *•  Ypermystre." 
*  Atlamdl  in  C.  P.  B.  I.  335,  V.  and  P.'s  translation. 


Germanic  speculation  —  abiding  within  us  and  mov- 
ing us  without  our  wish  or  will.  "It  ran  into  his 
mind"  is  our  "occur";  but  what  was  the  "it"?  Men 
believed  that  during  dream  or  trance,  the  soul  in 
visible  shape,  —  a  mouse  or  a  snake,  for  example,  — 
could  desert  the  body ;  and  they  seem  also  to  have 
believed  that  something  not  oneself  spoke  within 
one's  own  bosom.  When  a  man  begins  to  talk,  he 
"  unlocks  the  word-hoard  " ;  when  he  will  be  silent, 
he  bolts  and  bars  his  breast.  Instead  of  "  he  spake," 
the  poet  of  Beowulf  says :  "  the  point  of  the  word 
brake  through  the  breast-hoard";  and  in  another 
place,  "  he  let  the  word  fare  out."  ^  Indeed,  it  was 
no  metaphor  for  our  Germans  when  they  said  that 
the  spirit  of  his  ancestors  spake  from  the  breast  of 
the  son.  On  this  inner  voice,  however,  we  must  not 
lay  too  much  emphasis  ;  for  the  fylgja  was  mostly 
conceived  as  outside  of  one,  a  comrade  and  follower. 
The  conception  could  widen  from  an  individual's 
fy^gj^  to  the  good  genius  of  family,  clan,  or  race.  In 
the  church,  St.  Michael  took  these  old  functions  upon 
himself ;  and  Michaelmas  is  set  apart,  as  Bourne  sug- 
gests, for  the  election  of  municipal  officers,  "the  civil 
guardians  of  the  peace  of  men,  perhaps  .  .  .  because 
the  feast  of  angels  naturally  enough  brings  to  our 
minds  the  old  opinion  of  tutelar  spirits,  who  have,  or 
are  thought  to  have,  the  particular  charge  of  certain 
bodies  of  men  or  districts  of  country,  as  also  that 
every  man  has  his  guardian  angel  who  attends  him 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave."  ^ 

In  many  other  ways  the  church  perpetuated  certain 
forms  of  this  cult  of  the  dead.     Conspicuous  martyrs, 

1  B^oic.  2792.    See  Bode,  Kenningar,  p.  43.        2  Brand,  '*  Michaelmas." 


'^tmtm^ 


364 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


prelates,  and  others  were  canonized  and  practically 
worshipped,  so  that  the  strongly  rooted  custom  might 
bear  its  fruit  on  consecrated  ground  of  clerical  cere- 
monies.    We  may  sum  up  the  whole  matter  in  the 
words  of  Mr.  E.  B.  Tylor :  "  It  is  plain  that  in  our 
time   the   dead  still   receive   worship   from   far  the 
larger  half  of  mankind,  and  it  may  have  been  much 
the  same  ever  since  the  remote  periods  of  primitive 
culture  in  which  the  religion  of  the  manes  probably 
took  its  rise."  ^     Where  we  are  not  concerned  with 
actual  worship,  as  soon  as  we  leave  creed  and  cere- 
mony and  take  up  superstition,  then  we  enter  the 
great  realm   of  ghosts;   here   the   old  beliefs  have 
found  their  haven  of  refuge.      The  dead  still  visit 
the  glimpses  of  the  moon,  rise  to  demand  blood  for 
their  own  murder,  come  to  warn  or  protect  or  scare, 
—  what  not:  and  all  these  faded  superstitions  have 
their  roots  in  the  ancient  manes-cult.     Precisely  the 
same  origin  must  be  assigned  to  the  famous  night- 
mare'^ and  all  its  relatives.      The  "mare,"  a  word 
which  Kuhn  connected  with  Latin  mori,  is  evidently 
in  its  original  form  a  spirit,  a  dead  person,  who  tram- 
ples or  rides  its  victim  to  death.     Thence  the  con- 
ception  passes   into   that   of    a   living   person   who 
has   assumed   this   shape;    and   so    through   all  the 
grades  of  superstitious  belief.     Similar  origin  must 
be  assigned  to  the  wereivolf,  a  person  "clad"  in  a 
wolf,3  and  evidently  another  offspring  of  the  belief 
in  spirits.     But  these  various  manifestations  belong 
rather  to  Germanic  mythology  than  to  our  present 
subject. 

1  Primitive  Culture^  11.  123.  2  Mogk  in  Paul's  Grdr.  p.  1013. 

3  Kogel's  etymology  in  Mogk's  article,  p.  1017,  note. 


«ni 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   THE   DEAD 


365 


The  place  where  one  meets  the  spirits,  can  summon 
them  and  appease  them,  is  by  preference  the  burial 
place;   but  they  are  also  fond  of  crossways.      The 
time  is,  of  course,  night ;  and  chiefly  in  the  season  of 
Christmas  and  New  Year,  when  the  nights  are  long- 
est.     A  host  of  superstitions  and  popular  observances 
connected  with  this  time  of  the  year  have  their  roots 
in  the  primitive  customs  of  manes-worship.     On  St. 
Thomas's  day,  December  21st,  in  an  English  village 
it  was  till  lately  the  custom  to  deposit  five  shillings 
in  a  hole  in  a  certain  tombstone  in  the  churchyard ; 
this  done,  the  lord  of  the  manor  could  take  no  tithe 
of  hay  that  year.^ 

1  Hampson,  Medii  ^vi  Kalendarium,  I.  83. 


( 


^ 


TT—i    mim^tm^mmm 


;  J 


866 


GERMAXIC  ORIGIXS 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE  AVORSHIP  OF  NATURE 

Dualism  in  worship — Spirits  of  the  natural  world  —  House-spirits 
—  Spirits  of  the  air -The  Mighty  Women  -  Charms  -  The  Wild 
Hunt -Spirits  of  the  earth  -  Wood-spirits  -  Tree-worship - 
Water-spirits  and  well- worship  -  The  Swan-maidens -Giants - 
Worship  of  the  elements  -  Water,  air,  and  fire  -  Mother  Earth  - 
Sun,  moon,  and  stars -Day,  night,  and  the  seasons. 

It  is  not  our  province  to  discuss  problems  of  my- 
thology, but  a  question  must  be  asked  in  regard  to  the 
objects  of  Germanic  worship.     We  have  learned  that 
the  primitive  German  worshipped  his  ancestral  spirits. 
Starting  with  this  fact,  many  writers  on  anthropology 
endeavor  to  develop  the  whole  system  of  Germanic 
deities  from  ancestor-worship  alone.     This  we  cannot 
admit.     One  often  hears  a  remark  quoted  from  Im- 
manuel  Kant  to  the  effect  that  two  things  filled  him 
with   wonder  and  awe,  —  the  starry  heavens  above 
him  and  the  sense  of  moral  responsibility  within  him. 
Now  for  primitive  man  we  may  assume  an  analogous 
dualism,  corresponding  of  course  to  the  undeveloped 
condition  of  his  intellect.     The  world  of  dreams  and 
of  consciousness  gave  him  the  conception  of  spirits 
and  the  impulse  to  worship   them.     On  the  other 
hand,  from  the  start  he  must  have  felt  a  not-himself 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


367 


—  a  not'like-hwiself — in  the  nature  that  surrounded 
him.  We  assume  this  dualism  from  the  outset:  a 
cult  of  ancestral  spirits,  which  chiefly  haunted  the 
tomb  and  the  underworld;  and  a  cult  of  natural 
forces  dimly  felt  to  be  instinct  with  life  and  volition. 
In  other  words,  primitive  man  did  not  delay  his  wor- 
ship of  natural  forces  until  remote  ancestors  had 
become  in  some  way  identified  with  these  forces. 
Storms  might  gather  in  the  neighborhood  of  moun- 
tain graves,  and  might  be  attributed  to  ancestors,  for 
wind  and  air  belong  to  the  spirits ;  but  the  bolt  of 
lightning  had  no  analogy  in  any  human  act  and  was 
surely  never  regarded  as  the  work  of  an  ancestor. 
There  must  have  been  a  gigantic  storm-god  from  the 
beginning  of  human  thought ;  for  if  there  was  intel- 
lect enough  to  infer  ancestral  acts,  there  was  fancy 
enough  to  imagine  a  superhuman  power.^ 

Between  the  worship  of  ancestors,  known  and 
acknowledged  as  such,  and  the  cult  of  great  divinities 
like  Woden,  lay  a  border-land  which  is  not  to  be 
rashly  annexed  to  either  kingdom.  We  prefer  to 
treat  this  worship  independently ;  it  dealt  with  spirits 
of  the  stream,  the  cave,  the  air,  and  the  forest. 
Doubtless  much  of  this  worship  once  belonged  to 
ancestors,  but  it  soon  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  such. 
Spirits  were  supposed  to  haunt  the  secret  places  of 
nature,  and  were  in  many  cases  thought  to  be  souls 
of  departed  men ;  but  from  the  start  man  must  have 
felt  that  the  water  or  the  cloud  or  the  cave  had  a 
population  not  entirely  dependent  on  emigration  from 

1  This  is  counter  not  only  to  the  anthropological  view,  but  also  to 
the  system  of  the  philologist,  E.  H.  Meyer,  who  assumes  {Indogerm. 
Mythen,  I.  87.  210  f.)  that  the  Pandemonium  came  first  and  out  of  it 
grew  the  Pantheon. 


\. 


1 


368 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


the  living  world  of  men;  he  must  have  recognized 
at  the  outset  a  natura  naturans.  Ancestral  spirits 
would  belong  to  a  general  locality,  and  would  have 
at  heart  the  interests  of  family,  clan,  or  race.  Thus 
we  find  a  curious  law  in  Iceland  about  the  precaution 
to  be  observed  by  shipmasters  whose  boats  rode  at 
anchor  in  the  harbors.  If  these  boats  had  figure- 
heads, —  dragon,  snake,  or  what  not,  —  the  prow 
was  to  be  turned  away  from  the  shore  so  that  the 
land-spirits  should  not  be  terrified.^  These  are  un- 
doubtedly the  kindly  spirits  of  the  race,  guardians 
and  protectors  of  their  old  home.  But  spirits  assigned 
to  some  particular  element  have  not  this  intimate  and 
ancestral  quality ;  and  it  was  these  latter  spirits  which 
became  in  our  Christian  era  the  object  of  bans  and 
curses. 

From  haunted  spring  and  dale, 

Edged  with  poplar  pale, 

The  parting  genius  was  with  sighing  sent. 

To  "  lay  "  spirits  was  business  of  the  priest ;  the  sign 
of-  the  cross  reminded  them  of  a  lost  empire  and  sent 
them  in  confusion  to  yet  remoter  haunts.  Thence, 
however,  they  can  still  be  invoked,  as  Wagner  reminds 
Faust,  by  the  presumptuous  and  reckless  man  who 
does  not  shrink  from  dealings  with  them.  To  ban 
spirits  and  to  invoke  them  are  arts  not  so  widely  sun- 
dered as  might  be  supposed ;  and  the  old  spirit-cult 
lent  itself  readily  to  the  new  ceremonies  of  the 
church.  The  carpenter  in  Chaucer's  Miller's  Tale, 
avails  himself  of  such  a  form  when  he  wishes  to  cure 
the  clerk  of  his  pretended  trance :  — 

1  Maurer,  Bek,  d.  norweg.  Stamme,  II.  231 ;  Landndma,  IV.  7. 


\\ 


I 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 

"  Awake  and  thynk  on  Cristes  passioun. 

I  crowche  ^  the  from  elves  and  from  wightes." 

Therwith  the  night-spel  seyde  he  anon  rightes, 

On  the  four  halves  of  the  hous  about«. 

And  on  the  threisshfold  of  the  dore  withoute. 

"  Lord  Jhesu  Crist,  and  seynte  Benedight, 

Blesse  this  hous  from  every  wikkede  wight. 

Fro  nyghtes  mare  werye  the  with  Pater-noster ; 

Wher  wonestow  now,  seynte  Petres  soster?" 


369 


This  passage  ^  Tyrwhitt  suspects  "  to  be  an  interpo- 
lation"; but  a  good  old  English  charm  it  is  most 
undoubtedly,  whether  Chaucer's  insertion  or  not. 

One  class  of  spirits  to  be  noticed  at  the  outset  have 
nothing  to  do  with  natural  forces,  and  evidently  be- 
long entirely  to  the  ancestral  division.  These  are 
the  house-spirits.  Robin  Goodfellow  is  a  well-known 
English  representative  of  the  class.  They  dwell  in 
cellar,  garret,  stall,  corncrib,  and  closet;  they  are 
mostly  invisible,  but  often  appear  as  little  men  in 
grotesque  raiment,  pointed  hat,  and  boots.  Another 
sort  of  home-spirits  remain  invisible,  and  it  is  to 
avoid  pinching  or  hurting  these  that  one  is  admon- 
ished not  to  slam  doors,  throw  knives  about,  and  so 
forth.  The  cult  of  these  spirits  exists  to  this  day  in 
some  shape.  Food  is  given  to  them,  and  in  reward 
they  do  all  sorts  of  household  work;^  our  literature 
abounds  in  references  to  their  ministrations. 

With  spirits  of  the  air^  we  enter  upon  a  field 
where  the  mystery  of  natural  forces  is  joined  to  the 

1  Make  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

2  Miller's  Tale,  291  ff.,  Aldine  edition  of  Chaucer,  II.  107. 
8  D.  3f  .4  422  f . 

*  St.  Augustine  divides  "in  deos,  .homines,  daemones.  .  .  .  Nam 
deorum  sedes  in  caelo,  hominum  in  terra,  in  sere  dseraonum."  C  D. 
YIII.  14,  quoted  D.  M.*  III.  122. 


n 


370 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


371 


worship  of  the  dead.  The  air  is  of  course  full  of 
spirits,  for  the  very  name  of  ''spirit"  shows  this 
affinity;  and  we  must  try  to  sunder  two  elements 
in  the  cult  of  these  mysterious  beings.  The  old  cus- 
tom of  "  feeding  the  wind  "  at  the  approach  of  a  storm 
is  a  case  in  point.  The  rising  wind  is  connected  with 
ancestral  spirits ;  we  know  that  when,  for  example, 
a  man  is  hanged,  or  meets  an  equally  violent  death, 
there  always  arises  a  sudden  gust  of  wind.  The 
food,  therefore,  is  partly  meant  for  these  unfortunate 
spirits,  who  seem  to  murmur  ominously  in  the  rising 
gale.  But  besides  the  souls,  there  is  something 
superhuman  in  the  storm  itself,  an  indefinite  animat- 
ing presence  which  the  worshipper  desires  to  propiti- 
ate: and  hence  a  part  of  the  offering  goes  to  this 
mysterious  power.  Thus  the  beings  who  haunt  the 
air  are  doubtless  to  be  referred  in  part  to  the  wor- 
ship of  ancestors ;  but  with  them  is  connected  the 
mystery  of  the  element  itself.  As  the  spirits  retire 
further  and  further  from  their  ghostly  character,  they 
acquire  more  and  more  of  the  terrible  and  the  over- 
whelming. 

Let  us  take,  first  of  all,  the  dis  of  Scandinavian 
superstition,  a  word  which  Grimm  connects  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  ides  (woman),  and  which  is  found  as 
final  syllable  in  many  Norse  names.  The  guardian 
angel  is  often  a  dis;  or  the  word  may  stretch  far 
enough  to  include  the  notion  of  a  ''goddess."  We 
read  of  a  temple  of  the  disir  in  Scandinavian  worship, 
of  sacrifice  to  them  (jdisahUf)^  and  of  a  scald  or  poet 
who  sang  in  their  honor.^  "One  harvest,"  —  we 
note  the  season  of  year,  —  "  there  was  made  a  great 

1  Cleasby-Vigfusson,  Icelandic  Diet.  s.v. 


sacrifice  to  the  woman-spirits  (disahUt)  at  King  Alf's, 
and  Alfhild  performed  the  sacrifice  .  .  .  and  in  the 
night,  as  she  was  reddening  the  high-place,  Starkad 
carried  her  away.^ "  These  woman-spirits  are  some- 
times friendly,  sometimes  hostile,  and  on  the  whole 
seem  to  be  the  sublimated  wise-woman  whom  the 
German  reverenced  in  life  for  her  prophetic  and 
sacred  nature,  a  "magnified  and  non-natural"  Veleda 
of  the  unseen  world.  Such  disir  are  said  to  have 
made  away  with  mortals,^  and  it  is  good  to  propi- 
tiate them  with  the  disahUt,  They  are  distinctly 
connected  with  graves  and  spirits  of  the  dead,  as 
Grimm  points  out  from  the  use  of  such  a  phrase  as 
hl6ta  kumla  disii\  "  to  sacrifice  to  the  women  of  the 
tombs."  As  active  in  human  affairs,  they  journey 
about  doing  help  or  harm  ;  but  unlike  their  elder 
sister,  the  implacable  Wyrd,  these  mighty  women 
may  be  pacified  or  cajoled  with  a  gift.  It  seems 
to  be  a  very  old  notion  that  mystic  and  supernat- 
ural women  attend  the  birth  of  children  and  have 
abiding  influence  on  the  destiny  of  those  who  are 
born  under  their  auspices.  They  are  to  be  treated 
liberally, — the  uninvited  fairy  of  our  story-books  as 
a  warning !  Since  all  unseen  ills  come  from  unseen 
persons,  as  even  death  in  battle  by  a  visible  weapon 
must  be  referred  to  a  mysterious  personality,  —  "if 
War  shall  take  me  off,"  says  Beowulf  in  no  abstract, 
modern  way,  —  so  the  old  German  felt  an  impulse  to 
propitiate  or  baffle  the  powers  that  did  him  secret 
harm.  Anglo-Saxon  literature  contains  some  striking 
survivals  of  this  cult  of  the  mighty  women.  In  the 
strange  mixture  of  pedantry  and  superstition  known 


I  Herv,  Saga,  apud  C.  P.  B.  I.  405. 


2  D.  M.^  333. 


372 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


as  Salomon  and  Saturn}  our  Hebrew  monarch  de- 
scribes the  nature  of  Wyrd  or  fate,  and  gives  some 
features  which  undoubtedly  belonged  to  all  the  race 
of  disir.  As  befits  a  fallen  deity,  Wyrd  has  in  Salo- 
mon's description  pronounced  diabolical  traits ;  — 

Wyrd  is  wrathful,  she  rushes  upon  us, 

she  waketh  weeping,  with  woe  she  loads  us, 

she  shoots  the  spirit,  a  spear  she  bears. 

The  last  line,  a  sort  of  prolepsis  for  "  she  carries  a 
spear  and  hurls  it  at  the  spirit,"  is  especially  inter- 
esting to  us  on  account  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  charm 
against  rheumatism  or  a  sudden  "  stitch  "  in  the  side. 
Hovering  and  mysterious  woman-spirits,  invisible 
often,  and  horsed  upon  sightless  couriers  of  the  air, 
send  little  spears  or  javelins  at  the  unwary  mortal, 
just  as  in  nobler  office  the  Valkyrias,  concealed  by 
the  swan-raiment,  flew  above  the  clash  of  battle 
and  protected  a  favorite  warrior.  With  the  advent 
of  Christianity  they  all  came  into  equal  disrepute ; 
witness  a  suggestive  gloss  of  the  eighth  century,  — 
''''Eurynis^  walcyrge.  Unmenides,  hsehtisse."  That 
is,  the  Furies,  by  interpretatio  Saxonica^  are  Valkyrias ; 
and  the  Eumenides  are  hcegtessan^  or  witches.  Now 
the  charm  against  rheumatism  distinctly  names  the 
hcegtessan  as  authors  of  the  trouble  in  question,  and 
is  here  given  in  full  translation :  ^  — 

"Against  sudden-stitch  [take]  feverfew,  and  red 
nettle  which  grows  through  the  house,  and  dock 
("  waybroad  ")  :  boil  in  butter  [and  say]  :  — 

1  Ed.  J.  M.  Kemble. 

2  Original  in  Wiilker-Grein,  Bihl.  d.  ags.  Poesie,  I.  317 ;  Cockayne, 
Leechdoms,  III.  62  ff. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


373 


Loud  were  they,  loud,  o'er  the  law  ^  as  they  rode, 
wrathful  they  were  as  they  rode  o'er  the  land  : 
shield  thee  now,  that  thou  mayst  'scape  from  the  danger. 
Out,  little  spear,  if  in  here  thou  be ! 

I  stood  under  linden,  'neath  light  shield, 

where  the  Mighty  Women  their  main  ^  prepared, 

when  they  sent  their  screaming  spears  abroad. 

I  will  send  in  answer  another  spear, 

flying  arrow  forth  against  them. 

Out,  little  spear,  if  it  in  here  be  1 

Sat  smith,  forged  little  knife, 
[angriest  of  iron,  wondrous  strong]  .* 
Out,  little  spear,  if  it  in  here  be ! 

Six  smiths  sat,  war-spears  wrought. 
Out,  spear !  be  not  in,  spear ! 

If  herewithin  be  aught  of  iron, 

work  of  witches,*  it  shall  melt ! 

Wert  thou  shot  in  the  fell,  or  wert  shot  in  the  flesh, 

or  wert  shot  in  the  blood,  [or  wert  shot  in  the  bone]  ^ 

or  wert  shot  in  the  limb  :  be  thy  life  never  harmed  !  ^ 

1  "Hill":  Scottish  *Maw." 

2  Strength. 

3  Rieger's  emendation.  The  original  has  simply  "iserna  wund 
swiSe."  Sweet  reads  this  as  "wounded  with  iron";  i.e.  beaten  with 
an  iron  hammer. 

*  Htec/tessan.  See  above.  Our  "  hag  "  is  the  same  word,  probably 
from  "  hedge,"  as  these  baneful  women  may  lurk  behind  hedges  and 
copses.  Compare  for  the  English  use  of  the  word  Herrick's  spirited 
poem  "The  Hag." 

The  hag  is  astride, 

This  night  for  to  ride, 
Tiie  devile  and  shee  together. 

Through  thick  and  through  thin, 

Now  out  and  now  in, 
Though  ne'er  so  foule  be  the  weather. 

6  Verse  so  completed  by  J.  Grimm. 
6  "  Teased  "  ;  i.e.  plucked,  tormented. 


lit 


'  Jl 


I  i 


374  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

Were  it  shot  of  the  gods,i  or  shot  of  the  elves,^ 
or  were't  shot  of  the  hag,  —  I  will  help  thee  now. 
This  to  heal  shot  of  gods :  this  to  heal  shot  of  elves : 
this  to  heal  shot  of  hag :  now  I  will  help  thee. 

Flee  to  the  mountain-head !  * 
Whole  be  thou  !  help  thee  God ! 

I'ake  then  the  knife,  throw  it  into  water. 

The  mythological  importance  of  this  charm  is  very 
evident.  Its  use  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  with  the 
faint  touch  of   orthodoxy  added   to   the  last  verse, 

1  Esa,  The  same  root  is  preserved  in  the  first  syllable  of  Oswald, 
etc.  The  word  occurring  here  is  of  great  value,  and  shows  the  genuine 
heathendom  of  the  charm.  6s,  the  singular,  is  the  name  of  one  of  the 
runes,  and  has  the  general  meaning  "god." 

2  Etymology  is  here  important.  The  word  '*  self  "  is  familiar  enough 
in  itself  and  as  first  syllable  of  proper  names  like  Alfred.  Another 
form  is  "oaf":  see  Shakspere's  "ouphes"  in  Merry  Wives,  IV.  4. 
For  the  facts,  we  have  the  interesting  word  "elf-arrow,"  applied  in 
Scotland  to  certain  stones,  such  as  pieces  of  flint;  also  "elfbolt." 
These  are  believed  to  be  actual  missiles,  such  as  our  charm  describes. 
Sick  cattle  in  Norway  are  said  to  be  "seliskudt,"  elf-shot.  This  term 
is  also  Scottish;  see  Grimm,  D.  MA  381.  Brand  says  that  in  England 
as  well  as  in  Scotland  those  relics  of  the  stone  age  —  arrow-heads  of 
flint  — are  popularly  called  elf-shots,  and  even  the  ignis-fatuus  was 
called  elf -fire.  Cattle  suffer  from  them,  and,  as  Brand  reminds  us, 
Collins  says  in  his  Ode :  — 

Then  every  herd  by  sad  experience  knows 

How  wing'd  with  Fate,  their  elf-shot  arrows  fly, 

When  the  sick  ewe  her  guramer  food  foregoes, 
Or  etretch'd  on  earth  the  heart-emit  heifers  lie. 

Several  diseases  were  named  after  elves :  —  water-elf  disease,  ell-hic- 
cough, and  so  on.    Cockayne,  Leechdoms,  I.  xlvii. 

8  This  is  Sweet's  reading,  in  Anglo-Saxon  Reader,®  p.  123,  and  the 
simplest.  Grimm  reads  "Flee  to  the  mountains  [she  that  sent  the 
bolt] .  Be  thou  whole  in  head!  "  In  the  above  translation  "  flee  "  must 
refer  to  the  little  spear  which  caused  the  trouble ;  a  sequel  to  the  com- 
mand "Out!"  is  the  command  "Flee!"  We  might  of  course  read 
"fl^o«"  and  refer  to  the  Mighty  Women.  See  Wiilker,  Grundr.  d. 
ags.  Lit.  p.  350. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


375 


points  to  an  older  ceremonial  and  a  more  exalted 
station.  When  its  temple  was  ruined,  this  rite 
sought  shelter  in  the  cottage,  nor  was  it  confined 
to  England;  for  references  to  these  evil-working 
hags  are  found  in  Scandinavian  literature.  In 
the  Hdvamdl  Woden  tells  us  the  tenth  item  of 
his  wisdom:  "If  I  see  hedge-riders  dancing  in 
the  air,  I  prevail  so  that  they  go  astray  and  can- 
not find  their  own  skins  and  their  own  haunts."^ 
They  are  elsewhere  called  " night-ridei-s  "  and  "mirk- 
riders  " ;  one  of  them  is  seen  to  ride  a  wolf  at 
twilight.^ 

While  these  fashions  of  the  mighty  women  bring  us 
close  to  modern  witchcraft,  we  may  also  look  at  them 
in  their  more  warlike  functions.  Those  stern  old 
German  women  whom  we  saw  among  the  Cimbrians 
and  Teutons  in  Italy,  or  who,  according  to  Tacitus, 
were  wont  in  their  own  borders  to  rally  a  wavering 
line  of  battle,  are  only  mortal  models  for  the  invisi- 
ble beings  who  hover  over  a  battle-field,  help  their 
favorites,  and  hinder  the  enemy.  Such  are  the  super- 
natural women  mentioned  in  an  old  German  spell, 
found  by  Waitz  in  a  manuscript  of  the  cathedral  library 
at  Merseburg,  and  presented  with  comment  and  trans- 
lation by  Jacob  Grimm  to  the  Berlin  Academy  of 
Sciences.3  The  handwriting  is  of  the  early  tenth 
century.  As  usual  with  charms  and  spells,  —  for  ex- 
ample, the  Anglo-Saxon  spell  just  given,  —  we  have 
an  epic  opening,  three  verses  of  description,  and  then 
the  application,  or  spell  proper,  in  the  fourth  line. 

1  C.  P.  B.  I.  27.  2  n,id.  I.  95,  146. 

8  1842.    See  Grimm's  Kl.  Schr.  II.  1  flf. 


374  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 

Were  it  shot  of  the  gods,^  or  shot  of  the  elves, ^ 
or  were't  shot  of  the  hag,  —  I  will  help  thee  now. 
This  to  heal  shot  of  gods :  this  to  heal  shot  of  elves : 
this  to  heal  shot  of  hag  :  now  I  will  help  thee. 

Flee  to  the  mountain-head ! ' 
Whole  be  thou  I  help  thee  God ! 

T'ake  then  the  knife ^  throw  it  into  water. 

The  mythological  importance  of  this  charm  is  very 
evident.  Its  use  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  with  the 
faint  touch  of  orthodoxy  added  to  the  last  verse, 

1  Esa.  The  same  root  is  preserved  in  the  first  syllable  of  Oswald, 
etc.  The  word  occurring  here  is  of  great  value,  and  shows  the  genuine 
heathendom  of  the  charm.  Os,  the  singular,  is  the  name  of  one  of  the 
runes,  and  has  the  general  meaning  "  god." 

2  Etymology  is  here  important.  The  word  "  self  "  is  familiar  enough 
in  itself  and  as  first  syllable  of  proper  names  like  Alfred.  Another 
form  is  "oaf":  see  Shakspere's  "ouphes"  in  Merrrj  WiveSy  IV.  4. 
For  the  facts,  we  have  the  interesting  Avord  '*  elf -arrow,"  applied  in 
Scotland  to  certain  stones,  such  as  pieces  of  flint;  also  "elf bolt." 
These  are  believed  to  be  actual  missiles,  such  as  our  charm  describes. 
Sick  cattle  in  Norway  are  said  to  be  "aeliskudt,"  elf-shot.  This  term 
is  also  Scottish;  see  Grimm,  D.  M.*  381.  Brand  says  that  in  England 
as  well  as  in  Scotland  those  relics  of  the  stone  age  —  arrow-heads  of 
flint  —  are  popularly  called  elf-shots,  and  even  the  ignis-fatuus  was 
called  elf -fire.  Cattle  suffer  from  them,  and,  as  Brand  reminds  us, 
Collins  says  in  his  Ode :  — 

Then  every  herd  hy  sad  experience  knows 
How  wing'd  with  Fate,  their  elf-shot  arrows  fly, 

When  the  sick  ewe  her  summer  food  foregoes, 
Or  stretch'd  on  earth  the  heart-smit  heifers  lie. 

Several  diseases  were  named  after  elves :  —  water-elf  disease,  elf-hic- 
cough, and  so  on.    Cockayne,  Leechdoms,  I.  xlvii. 

*  This  is  Sweet's  reading,  in  Anglo-Saxon  Reader, «  p.  123,  and  the 
simplest.  Grimm  reads  "Flee  to  the  mountains  [she  that  sent  the 
bolt] .  Be  thou  whole  in  head!  "  In  the  above  translation  "  flee  "  must 
refer  to  the  little  spear  which  caused  the  trouble ;  a  sequel  to  the  com- 
mand **Out!"  is  the  command  "Flee!"  We  might  of  course  read 
"fl^o^"  and  refer  to  the  Mighty  Women.  See  Wiilker,  Grundr.  d. 
ays.  Lit.  p.  350. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


375 


points  to  an  older  ceremonial  and  a  more  exalted 
Station.  When  its  temple  was  ruined,  this  rite 
sought  shelter  in  the  cottage,  nor  was  it  confined 
to  England;  for  references  to  these  evil-working 
hags  are  found  in  Scandinavian  literature.  In 
the  Hdvamdl  Woden  tells  us  the  tenth  item  of 
his  wisdom;  "If  I  see  hedge-riders  dancing  in 
the  air,  I  prevail  so  that  they  go  astray  and  can- 
not find  their  own  skins  and  their  own  haunts."^ 
They  are  elsewhere  called  " night-ridens  "  and  "mirk- 
riders";  one  of  them  is  seen  to  ride  a  wolf  at 
twilight.2 

While  these  fashions  of  the  mighty  women  bring  us 
close  to  modern  witchcraft,  we  may  also  look  at  them 
in  their  more  warlike  functions.      Those  stern  old 
German  women  whom  we  saw  among  the  Cimbrians 
and  Teutons  in  Italy,  or  who,  according  to  Tacitus, 
were  wont  in  their  own  borders  to  rally  a  wavering 
line  of  battle,  are  only  mortal  models  for  the  invisi- 
ble beings  who  hover  over  a  battle-field,  help  their 
favorites,  and  hinder  the  enemy.     Such  are  the  super- 
natural women  mentioned  in  an  old  German  spell, 
found  by  Waitz  in  a  manuscript  of  the  cathedral  library 
at  Merseburg,  and  presented  with  comment  and  trans- 
lation by  Jacob  Grimm  to   the  Berlin   Academy  of 
Sciences.3     The   handwriting  is  of  the  early  tenth 
century.    As  usual  with  charms  and  spells,  — for  ex- 
ample, the  Anglo-Saxon  spell  just  given,  — we  have 
an  epic  opening,  three  verses  of  description,  and  then 
the  application,  or  spell  proper,  in  the  fourth  line. 

1  C.  p.  B.  I.  27.  2  Ibid.  I.  95,  146. 

8  1842.    See  Grimm's  Kl.  Schr.  II.  1  ff . 


376 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


"Once  sat  Women,  sat  hither  and  thither. 
Some  bound  bonds :  some  hindered  the  host :  i 
some  unfastened  the  fetters.^ 
*  Spring  from  fetters  :  fly  from  the  foe ! ' " » 

Not  SO  grandly  supernatural  as  these  shadowy  god- 
desses of  battle  are  the  ''  balewise  women "  against 
whom  the  Scandinavian  warrior  was  warned.     "  The 
sons  of  men  need  an  eye  of  foresight  wherever  the 
fray  rages,  for  balewise*  women  often  stand  near  the 
way,  blunting  swords  and  mind."     This  blunting  of 
weapons  by  witchcraft  was   common  enough  in  old 
Germanic  times.     Certain  runes  on  the  blade  could 
do   it,  and  such  a  weapon  was  for  serif  en;   a  work 
attributed  in   Salomon   and   Saturn   to   the   agency 
of   the   devil.      "On   the    [doomed   man's]    weapon 
the    devil   writeth   a   mass   of    fatal   signs,   baleful 
letters ;  he  '  f orscribeth '  the  blade,  the  glory  of  the 

sword."  ^ 

In  this  place  may  be  mentioned  the  agency  ot 
"witches"  in  raising  storms.  This  has  become  in 
later  times  a  function  of  witchcraft  and  a  prerogative 
of  Laplanders ;  but  in  the  old  days  it  was  an  affair  of 
greater  dignity,  and  belonged  doubtless  to  these  same 
supernatural  women  of  the  night,  as  well  as  to  the 
god  of  storm  and  wind  himself.     Spells  were  uttered 

1  Those  who  bind  bonds  are  helping  the  victors,  and  make  fetters  for 
the  prisoners;  those  who  hinder  the  host  are  actively  embarrassing  the 

^""Txhat  is,  the  fetters  of  those  warriors  of  the  favored  army  who  had 
been  captured.  Thus  the  first  group  of  women  ^'«  jVl^^'^V^^^^Tr 
ite  army,  the  second  at  the  line  of  battle,  the  third  behmd  the  hostile 

army.    (Scherer.)  ,  .     ^      ^ 

8  This  is  what  the  women  say  to  the  prisoners,  and  is  the  efficacious 

word  in  any  similar  situation.  ^  c  i«o  f 

4  Horrible,  detestable,  devilish.  ^  S.  and  S.  162  f . 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


377 


against  hailstorms  ;  ^  strange  beings  were  appealed  to 
for  protection,  and  in  course  of  time  these  became 
Christian  saints. 

Lastly,  we  come  to  the  thinly  disguised  worship  of 
ancestral  spirits,  which  we  find  in  the  customs  and 
myths   connected  with   the   so-called  "wild  hunt." 
Woden,  the  god  of  wind  and  storm,  is  their  leader ; 
but  the  hunt  itself,  the  rout  of  spirits  that  howl  along 
the  wintry  sky,  are  undoubtedly  the  souls  of  the  dead. 
The  myth  is  universal  in  Germanic  traditions,^  and 
abounds  in  all  collections  of  legendary  and  popular 
lore;  but  the  characteristic  features  of  a  hunt,  the 
bark  of  dog  and  crack  of  whip,  have  all  been  added 
to  what  was  originally  a  mere  clamor  of  passing  souls. 
A  definite  cult  is  hardly  to  be  discovered ;  the  subject 
lies  wholly  in  the  province  of  myth  and  legend.     We 
may  note,  however,  the  custom  of  feeding  the  wind,  to 
which  we  have  made  reference  above.     In  Carinthia, 
about  the  time  of  Christmas,  this  custom  is  very  gen- 
erally observed.3     "  In  Swabia,  Tyrol,  and  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  when  the  storm  rages,  they  will  fling  a 
spoonful  or  a  handful  of  meal  in  the  face  of  the  gale, 
with  this  formula  in  the  la^t-named  district,  'Da  Wind,' 
hast  du  Mehl  fur  dein  Kind,  aber  aufhoren  musst 
du ! '  "  *    It  was  not  simply  the  spirits  who  were  to  be 
appeased ;  the  shadowy  dread  itself,  the  storm-god, 
was  an  object  of  cult  as  early  —  we  are  persuaded  — 
as  the  ancestral  souls  themselves. 

^D.M*  529;  III.  493,  499  f.. 

.jy^^^^^^^'  ^''"  ^'^P^^'i^^i^  0/  Gervas.  Tilb.  173  flf.    See  also  D.  M* 
765  ff. ;  Mogk  in  Paul's  Grdr.  1002  f. 

^Mythen  aus  Karnthen,  by  Pogatschnigg  in  Pfeiffer's  Germania, 
11.  75. 

'  Tylor,  P.  C.  II.  269,  407,  from  Wuttke,  Volksabergl.  p.  86. 


378 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


In  passing  from  the  cult  of  these  spirits  of  the  air, 
and  taking  up  the  scanty  remains  of  such  ceremonies 
as  may  have  been  meant  for  spirits  of  the  earth,  we 
are  reminded  how  difficult  it  is  to  show  the  necessary 
relation  between  modern  superstitions  and  an  ancient 
worship.     In  the  majority  of  cases  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  a  probability.    Creatures  of  the  under- 
world, who  live  in  cave  or  hillside,  are  particularly 
plentiful  in  Norse  traditions ;  they  belong  mainly  to 
the  province  of   mythology,  but  here  and  there  we 
have  a  glimpse  of  systematic  worship  and   ceremo- 
nies.    Burial  would  naturally  bring  the  lore  of  elves 
and  dwarfs  of  the  hillside  into  close  connection  with 
the  traditions  of  the  family  dead.    The  KormaJcssaga'^ 
testifies  to  Scandinavian  worship  of  these  dwarfs  and 
elves.     A  bull  was   killed,  its  blood  was   sprinkled 
on  the  hill  of  the  elves^  and  with  its  flesh  a  sacrificial 
feast  was  made  in  their  honor.     Here  we   are    evi- 
dently not  far  from  the  funeral-mound,  and  the  offer- 
ings set  out  upon  ancestral  graves.     Grimm  notes 
that  in  the  Netherlands  people  call  such  hills  as  hap- 
pen to  contain  burial-urns  alfenhergen.     Graves  were 
marked  by  stones,  and  we  hear  a  great  deal  in  decrees 
of  the  church  concerning  worship  at  sacred  stones ;  ^ 
offerings  were  brought  to  these  places  long  after  the 
notion  of   direct  ancestor-worship  had  faded  away. 
Often  there   was  an  enclosure,   as  well  as  a  stone. 
Anglo-Saxon   laws   provided  a  penalty  for  any  one 
who  should  deliberately  lay  out  such  an  enclosure  — 
for  purposes  of  the  cult  —  "about  stone  or  tree  or 
well."^    The   Scandinavians   sacrificed  at  home   to 

1  See  D.M.^  370. 

2  For  stones  as  sacred  in  themselves,  see  Pfannenschmid,  Erntefeste, 
p.  21  ff.  3  Schmid,  p.  368  ("  Northumbrian  Priest  Law  "). 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


379 


these  creatures.   "  The  surly  housewife,"  says  a  Norse 
poet,  "that  turned  me  away  like  a  wolf,  said  that 
they  were  holding  a  Sacrifice  to  the  Elves  within  her 
homestead."  ^     This  household  cult  of  the  elves  was, 
of  course,  frowned  upon  by  the  church;  hence  the 
antipathy  felt  by  all  the  elvish  race  for  church-bells, 
holy-water,  and  similar  belongings  of  a  woi-ship  which 
was   stamping  out  their  own  cult.^    The   elves  of 
modern    folk-lore    invariably   lament    the   good   old 
times ;  people,  they  wail,  have  now  begun  "  to  count 
the   loaves  in  the  oven,"  "to  make  marks   on  the 
loaf,"  and  what  not.     Of  Elfland,  the  elf-queen,  and 
all  the  myths  of  faery,  we  find  ample  account;    as 
to  the  cult  itself,  we  must  be  content  with  a  general 
conclusion  gathered  from  the  host  of  more  or  less 
evident   survivals.       The   "good   people,"   whether 
elves  of  "  mount "  or  "  dune,"  are  ready  to  help  men 
in   return   for  the   trifling  but  necessary  payment; 
their  best  work  is  that  of  the  forge,  the  loom,  or  the 
oven.     Weapons  they  will  make  of  the  best ;  in  all 
sorts  of  household  labor,  such  as  spinning  and  weav- 
ing, they  excel ;  and  it  is  notorious  that  their  bread 
and   cake   are    unsurpassed.     Moreover,   they  know 
and  impart  the  secrets  of  medicinal  herbs  and  stones 
of  virtue.     In  return  they  often  demand  the  aid  of 
human  beings,  and  particularly  in  three  cases.^    Elf- 
women  in  travail  desire  the  aid  of  a  mortal  nurse ; 
when  elf-men  divide  treasure,  or  fall  into   dispute,' 
they  often  call  in  a  wise  mortal  to  assist  them ;  and 
they  often  borrow  a  room  in  some  man's   dwelling 
where  they  may  hold  an  elfin  wedding-feast.     In  all 
these  cases  they  give  rich  compensation  to  the  mortal 


1  C.  p.  B.  II.  131, 


2  D.  J/.4  380,  401. 


8  Ibid.  378. 


!tl 


380 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


381 


»l 


in  question,  but  instances  of  their  mischievous  and 
harmful  nature  are  plentiful  enough.     In  all  proba- 
bility these  traditions  arose  with  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the   consequent  discredit  thrown  upon 
elvish  ways.    Evil  of  their  sending  fell  upon  men  and 
cattle ;  the  elf-shot,  as  we  have  just  seen,  was  justly 
dreaded ;  and  spells  and  charms  which  once  perhaps 
invoked  their  aid  were  turned  against  them,  and  in- 
tended to  put  them  under  ban.     Analogous  with  the 
mass  of  mediaeval  stories  which  tell  how  men  cheated 
the  devil  out  of  a  bargain  for  soul  or  service,  are  the 
legends  of  troll  or  dwarf  defrauded  in  similar  fashion. 
The  favorite  bargain  was  for  "  heart  and  eyes  "  of  a 
mortal  if  he  failed  to  keep  his  pact ;  but  if  the  mortal 
could   call   the   troll   by   name,  the    obligation  was 
forthwith    cancelled.      Such    is    the    legend    which 
Whittier  has   put  into  verse  in  his  "  Kallundborg 
Church."     The  oldest  race  of  elves,  however,  were 
surely  friends  of  man;   in   evidence,  we   may   call 
upon  those  fossil-like  witnesses  of  a  vanished  wor- 
ship, the  names  of  places  and  persons.     The  wide- 
spread cult  of  elves  has  left  its  trace  in  local  com- 
pounds like  JElfest'dn  ^  or  the  more  familiar  personal 
names  of  Mlfred,  Mlfgifu  ("elf-gift"),  and  the  like. 
Mingled  Germanic  and  Celtic  traditions  meet  us  in 
the  story  of  Arthur's  mystic  birth,  as  told  by  Eng- 
lish Layamon.     Elves   take   him  at  his  birth,  sing 
charms  over  him,  and  give  him  many  blessings ;  for 
one  of  his  battles  an  elf-smith  makes  him  a  noble 
coat  of  mail .2 

1  Leo,  Rectitud.  Singnl.  Person,  p.  5. 

2  Layamon's  Brut,  ed.  Madden,  II.  384,  463,  and  Ten  Brink,  Eng. 

Lit,  p.  238. 


The  dwarf-cult  is  not  entirely  a  matter  of  ancestor- 
worship.  In  some  cases  a  conquered  race,  often  in- 
ferior in  size  to  the  conquerors,  has  been  thrust  into 
remote  and  desert  regions,  into  the  hills  and  wilds, 
and  has  thus  passed  into  tradition  as  a  race  of  dwarfs. 
Such  a  race  is  naturally  feeble  and  despised  in  any 
comparisons  of  outright  valor;  but  in  a  sort  of  re- 
venge, the  reputation  of  witchcraft  and  secret  power 
of  doing  harm  attaches  to  them  and  makes  them 
feared.  Hence  the  reputation  of  the  Lapps,  whom 
the  Scandinavian  Aryans  conquered.^ 

It  was  an  evident  piece  of  reasoning  for  the  ancient 
world  to  connect  the  mysteries  of  vegetation  with 
the  benefactions  of  those  spirits  who  housed  below 
the  earth.  A  mass  of  material  has  been  collected 
by  Wilhelm  Mannhardt  illustrating  the  ceremonies 
observed  by  European  peasants  in  connection  with 
seed-time  and  harvest.^  These  customs  are  mainly 
indicative  of  older  ceremonies  which  had  in  view 
a  helpful  spirit,  to  whom  offering  was  made,  and 
a  harmful  demonic  being  which  is  still  exorcised 
in  varying  fashion.  Myths  may  be  guessed  behind 
many  a  modern  legend,  and  find  parallel  in  the 
records  of  Greek  and  Roman  mjrthology.  We  shall 
presently  find  occasion  to  trace  certain  Germanic 
rites  in  their  relation  to  the  goddess  of  fertility 
and  vegetation,  as  well  as  to  the  spirits  which  were 
more  directly  identified  with  the  kindly  elements 
themselves. 

1  Tylor,  p.  C.  I.  386. 

2  Mannliardt,  Die  Korndasmonen ;  Antike  Wald-  u.  Feldkulte,  Bd. 
II.;  Roggenwolf  u.  Roggenhund ;  and  Mythologische  Forschungen,  a 
posthumous  book,  being  No.  51  of  the  Quellen  w.  Forschungen. 


382 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


383 


Spirits  haunted  the  Germanic  forest,  and  the  mys- 
terious whisper  of  its  foliage  was  their  evident  mur- 
mur and  message  to  the  man  who  could  rede  it.^ 

Feld  hath  eyen,  and  the  wood  hath  eres, 

says  Chaucer ;  but  to  older  men  the  wood  had  also  a 
tongue.     Germans  were  children  of  the  woods,  and 
sacred  trees  abounded  in  their  tradition.     As  Grimm 
pointed  out,2  and  as  everybody  now  repeats,  even  the 
Gothic  cathedral  has  imitated  in  its  plan  the  climbing 
and  arching  branches  of  a  German  forest ;  while  the 
endless  variety  of  detail  easily  suggests  the  labyrinth 
of  twig  and  foliage.     In  speaking  of  the  spirits  of 
this  forest,  we  feel  sure  that  emigration  from  the 
human  world  is  not  to  account  for  all  of  them  or  for 
their  entire  nature  ;  something  of  the   mystery  and 
personified  activity  of  the  forest  itself  was  in  them 
from  the  beginning.     The  doctrine  ^  that  trees  were 
simply  habitation  of  the  gods,  —that  is  to  say,  a  sort 
of  fetish,  —  is  one  extreme;   the  other  is  Grimm's 
belief  that  it  was  the  actual  tree  which  our  fore- 
fathers worshipped.* 

We  have  to  do  at  present  not  with  the  sacred  grove 
and  the  forest  sanctuary,  which  are  to  be  considered 
in  connection  with  the  heathen  temple,  but  rather 
with  the  spirits  of  the  wood.  In  an  Anglo-Saxon 
glossary  of  the  tenth  or  the  eleventh  century,^  "  Dry- 
ades"  has   the   gloss   tvuduelfen^    wood-elves,    while 

1  Again  we  are  indebted  to  Mannhardt  for  an  excellent  collection  of 
material  in  his  Baumkultus,  the  first  volume  of  the  Antike  Wald-  w. 
Feldkiilte. 

2  D.  MA  56.         8  Held,  for  example,  by  Lippert.  -*  D.  M.  60. 
5  Wright-Wulker,  A.-S.  and  O.-E.  Vocabularies,  col.  189. 


"  Hamadryades  "  are  wylde  elfen^  and  "  Castalides  " 
cldnelfen,  dune  or  hill  elves.     "  Satyrii  vel  Fauni " 
are  glossed  as  unfmle   men^  unclean  men ;    but,  as 
Wright   remarks,  this   is   probably  transposed  from 
another  place,  and  the  gloss  should  be  wuduwasan ; 
indeed,  woodivose  is  given  as  the  definition  of  Satyrs 
in  a  dictionary  of  the  year  1608.     Very  interesting 
is  the  gloss  ^  for  Echo,    wudumcer^    wood-mare,   the 
being  which  answers  folk  out  of  the  wood  and  has 
the  same  deceptive  nature  as  its  more  violent  rela- 
tive, the  nightmare.     In  all  these  names  and  glosses 
we   see   a   certain   similarity  between  classical   and 
mediaeval  wood-lore ;    in  fact,  we   must  be   on   our 
guard  when  learned  men  of  the  middle  ages  cata- 
logue contemporary  heathen  practices.     A  just  de- 
cision is  often  difficult.     Thus  in  the  list  taken  by 
Grimm  ^  from  Burchard  of  Worms,  mention  is  made 
of  certain  "agrestes  feminae  quas  silvaticaa  vocant,"^ 
women  of  the  wood  who  appear  and  vanish  and  oft 
times  accept  a  mortal  lover.     Here  classical  parent- 
age seems  an  easy  inference;   yet  we  must  bear  in 
mind  what  a  store  of  similar  notions  inform  later 
and  even  modern  folk-lore.     From  our  oldest  myths 
down  to  these  peasant  stories  of  to-day,  the  wood  is 
peopled  with  mystic  beings,  mainly  women.     Classi- 
fication of  these  belongs  of  course  elsewhere ;  *  here 
it  is  our  task  to  trace  their  cult.     Not  very  much 
importance  may  be  put  upon  the  "  weird  lady  of  the 
woods  "  whom  Grimm  mentions  ^  as  named  in  a  poem 
—  he   gives  no  title — in  Percy's   Beltques,      It  is 
"  The  Birth  of  St.   George,"  where  the  weird  lady 


1  W.-W.  col.  391. 
4  Ibid.  357  ff. 


2  D.  MA  III.  404  ff . 
6  Ibid.  337. 


8  Ibid.  409. 


384 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


from  her  cave,  which  is  described  as  a  most  uncanny- 
place,  prophesies  the  future  of  Lord  Albert's  unborn 
child ;  she  is  sought  for  advice,  is  able  to  foretell  the 
future,  and  is  in  touch  with  a  deal  of  supernatural 
machinery.  Like  the  water-women,  the  ladies  of  the 
wood  have  the  old  sibyl  nature  ;  and  Grimm  reminds 
us  that  Veleda  herself  dwelt  amid  the  forest.  So  we 
approach  ancestor-worship,  and  are  made  to  think  of 
the  "  women  of  the  tomb  "  ;  indeed,  one  reading  of  a 
passage  already  quoted,^  makes  disguised  Odin  learn 
his  wisdom  from  the  "  old  people  who  live  in  the 
forests^''  where  other  texts  read  "  graves."  Related, 
in  like  manner,  to  ancestor-worship  is  the  household 
cult  of  a  spirit  who  dwells  in  some  tree  near  the 
family  dwelling  and  feels  a  peculiar  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  race.  By  Swedish  folk-lore,  one  must 
not  only  abstain  from  cutting  or  breaking  the  tree 
itself,  —  on  penalty  of  the  spirit's  departure,  and  with 
him  all  luck  of  the  house,  —  but  also  there  must  be 
no  hacking  or  spinning  on  a  Thursday  evening,  for 
this  is  offensive  to  the  dweller  in  the  tree.^ 

Definite  worship  of  trees  is  still  to  be  found  in  sur- 
vival, and  was  distinctly  forbidden  in  decrees  of  the 
church.  It  is  one  of  the  points  of  "  heathenship," 
as  defined  in  the  laws  of  King  Cnut :  "  Heathenship 
is  where  one  worships  idols,  that  is,  where  one  wor- 
ships heathen  gods  and  sun  or  moon,  fire  or  flood, 
water-wells  or  stones,  or  any  sort  of  tree,^^^  The 
Anglo-Saxon  homilies  repeatedly  condemn  the  prac- 
tice of  people  "  who  are  so  foolish  "  as  to  bring  offer- 

1  Above,  p.  351. 

2  D.  M.*  421.  The  "  family-tree  "  has  with  us  another  meaning,  but 
the  metaphor  is  suggestive.    See  D.  M.*  III.  187.  ^  Schmid,  p.  272. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


385 


ings  to  a  mere  stone,  a  well,  a  tree.  Wells,  stones, 
and  trees  were  holy  places ;  water-spirits,  earth-spirits, 
and  tree-spirits  had  prescribed  and  traditional  rites 
which  the  church  found  hard  to  destroy.  In  the  list 
quoted  by  Grimm,  from  Burchard,  we  find  specific 
mention  of  these  practices,  —  bringing  votive  offer- 
ings to  tree  or  fount  or  stone,  bringing  a  candle 
thither,  or  any  such  gift,  "  as  if  there  were  a  divinity 
(numen^  there  which  could  do  good  or  harm." 
Again,  bishops  and  their  assistants  are  to  make  every 
exertion  that  ''such  trees  as  are  consecrated  to  demons 
and  worshipped  by  the  people,  to  such  an  extent  that 
no  one  dares  to  cut  off  branch  or  twig,  should  be 
hewn  down  and  burned."  Mention  is  further  made 
of  auguries  and  the  casting  of  lots,  which  are  under- 
taken under  the  shade  of  a  sacred  tree.^  A  modern 
instance  of  offerings  made  at  or  to  a  tree  is  quoted 
by  Mr.  Tylor,^  from  a  Scandinavian  authority,  who 
says  that  to  this  day  on  outlying  Swedish  farms  is 
observed  the  sacrificial  rite  of  pouring  milk  and  beer 
over  the  roots  of  trees.  Tylor  collects  ample  evi- 
dence of  similar  tree-cult  among  savage  tribes.^ 
Mannhardt  has  a  volume  devoted  to  the  Germanic 
phases  of  the  subject.  Anglo-Saxon  leanings  towards 
utility  are  plain  enough,  along  with  traces  of  absolute 
worship,  in  the  custom  of  "  youling  "  trees  which  are 
to  bear  fruit  and  so  benefit  the  worshipper  directly ; 
the  tree  is  often  whipped,  or,  again,  has  cider,  beer, 
or  the  like,  poured  upon  its  roots. 

The  sacred  character  of  trees  is  shown  by  their  use 
in  the  naming  of  places  such  as  LindentUn,,  ThorntUn^ 

1  D.  MA  III.  404,  406.  2  p.  c.  II.  228. 

8  II.  215,  221  if.    See  his  references. 


386 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


and  many  similar  names.^  Moreover,  sacred  trees 
were  used  as  boundary  marks  for  an  estate,  as  is 
proved  by  our  old  charters  and  legal  documents.  A 
given  tree,  hung  with  trophies  offered  to  god  or 
spirit,  would  be  known  long  after  the  heathen  abomi- 
nations had  been  removed ;  marks  and  carvings  were 
often  allowed  to  remain  upon  it.  Thus  Kemble^ 
thinks  that  the  earnes  hSam  in  Kent,  mentioned  in  an 
old  document,  was  probably  ••'  a  tree  marked  with  the 
figure  of  an  eagle."  A  full  description  of  heathen 
rites  practised  at  such  a  tree  is  quoted  by  Grimm 
from  the  life  of  St.  Barbatus  (602-683),3  with  the 
somewhat  damaging  remark  that  "  it  may  be  accu- 
rate." The  Lombards  had  been  baptized,  but  still 
held  to  heathenish  customs;  and  not  far  from  the 
walls  of  Beneventum,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  wor- 
shipping a  "sacrilegious"  tree,  in  which  was  hung 
the  hide  of  a  beast.  The  men  rode  a  race  under  the 
tree,  during  which  they  hurled  spears  through  the 
hide  ;  and  this  had  to  be  done  backwards,  making 
the  affair  a  feat  of  strength  and  dexterity.  The 
piece  of  skin  thus  cut  out  was  eaten  as  an  especial 
part  of  the  rite.  Here,  moreover,  persons  were 
wont  to  fulfil  vows,  and  the  whole  place  was  held 
sacred.  We  are  elsewhere  distinctly  told  that  the 
Lombards  worshipped  a  "  blood-tree "  or  "  sacred 
tree."  * 

1  Leo,  Rectitud.  Singid.  Person,  p.  14. 

2  Saxons  in  England,  1.  480  (appendix). 

3  2).  M.*  641.  A  good  sur\'ival  of  tree-worship  is  the  case  of  the 
Stock  am  Eisen  in  Vienna,  into  which  every  apprentice,  before  setting 
out  on  his  Wanderjahre,  drove  a  nail  for  luck.  "For  luck"  is  gen- 
erally what  is  left  of  the  older  notion  of  divine  aid.  See  Fergusson, 
Tree  and  Serpent  Worship,  p.  21.  ■*  D.  3/.*  tJ3. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


387 


First  of  trees  in  point  of  sacred  character  stood  the 
oak.  We  remember,  of  course,  Glasgerion's  oath, 
"  by  oak  and  ash  and  thorn,"  where,  in  original  rites, 
the  sacred  tree  in  question  was  touched  by  him  who 
swore.^  The  village  May-pole  must  be  no  more  than 
mentioned,  and  even  the  great  world-tree,  Yggdra- 
sill,  may  be  left  to  controversy  with  a  general  feeling 
that  between  heathendom  and  Christianity,  neither 
one  can  be  claimed  for  its  origin  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  other ;  ^  in  any  event,  we  see  a  support  for  the 
supreme  importance  of  tree-cult.  Whether  we  be 
justified  or  not  in  assuming  a  Germanic  "  world-tree," 
there  is  no  doubt  of  the  old  Germanic  association 
of  trees  with  the  source  of  existence.  About  the 
guardian-tree  Swedish  women  twine  their  arms  in 
order  to  insure  easy  delivery  in  the  pangs  of  child- 
birth ;  ^  and  we  remember  how  in  our  English  ballads 
women  in  like  time  of  need  "set  their  backs  against 
an  oak."  Other  trees  are  noted  as  affording  help  in 
like  circumstances.  Eating  the  fruit  of  certain  trees 
may  make  women  pregnant ;  and  when  May  Margret 
pulls  the  nuts  in  Hind  Etin's  wood,  plainly  a  sacred 
region,  and  so  comes  into  his  power,  we  may  perhaps 
assume  a  kindred  tradition  based  upon  older  cult.* 
Indeed,  in  many  a  tale,  the  babies  are  fetched  directly 
from  or  out  of  this  or  that  tree ;  ^  and  we  hear  of  chil- 
dren being  drawn  through  a  split  sapling  in  order  to 
cure  them  of  a  deformity  or  a  disease.  It  is  in  close 
connection  with  the  use  of  trees  as  a  place  of  offering 
and  sacrifice  that  courts  were  so  often  held  beneath  a 

1  Child,  Ballads,2  III.  137 ;  Grimm,  R.  A.  896  f. 

2  Bugge,  Studier,  pp.  393-529.  « Ibid.  512. 
*  Child,  Ballad8,2  II.  360  ff . 

5  Bugge,  Studier,  514.    Common  belief  in  Frisia  and  Holland. 


388 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


389 


tree ;  ^  justice  was  originally  divine  in  every  sense. 
It  is  significant  that  in  one  of  these  courts  "  the  oath 
was  taken  with  a  stick  of  holly  held  in  the  hand."  2 
Down  to  modern  times,  certain  traditional  trees  are 
held  in  awe,  and  the  rudest  village  hind  will  not 
break  or  mar  them.^ 

Our  best  account  of  such  a  sacred  tree  in  the  old 
heathen  days  is  the  well-known  story  of  Boniface 
and  the  "  oak  of  Jove."  It  is  told  in  Willibald's  life 
of  the  saint.*  He  had  come  to  the  land  of  the  Hes- 
sians, and  many  of  these  accepted  the  laying-on  of 
hands ;  "  but  others,  whose  minds  were  not  yet 
strengthened  (nondum  animo  confortati)^  refused  to 
accept  the  truths  of  the  pure  faith ;  some,  moreover, 
made  in  secret  their  offerings  and  sacrifice,  .  .  . 
others  openly ;  some  publicly,  some  privately,  carried 
on  auspices  and  divinations,  magic  and  incantations ; 
others  again  auspices  and  auguries  and  divers  sacri- 
ficial rites ;  but  others,  of  saner  mind,  who  had  re- 
nounced all  heathen  worship,  did  none  of  these 
things.  With  help  and  counsel  of  these  latter, 
[Boniface]  undertook,  with  the  servants  of  God 
standing  about  him,  to  cut  down  an  immense  oak- 
tree,  which  was  called  by  its  old  heathen  name,  the 
Jupiter  Oak  (^robur  Jovis)^^  in  a  place  known  as 
Gaesmere.^  When,  resolute  of  mind,  he  had  begun 
to  fell  the  tree,  the  great  crowd  of  heathen  who  had 
come  up  cursed  him  as  an  enemy  of  their  gods ;  but 

1  i?.  ^.  794  ff.    Gomme,  Prim.  Folk-Moots,  passim.  2  iijid.  145. 

8  See  some  verses  in  Gromme's  book,  p.  257,  about  Langley  Bush  in 
Staffordshire. 

*  Geschichtschreiber  d.  deutschen  Vorzeit,  "  Willibald,"  p.  27  f .  V 

s  Interpretatio  Romana ;  probably  Jovis  =  Thor,  Thunor. 
^  Geismar  on  the  Edder. 


nevertheless,  when  he  had  cut  the  tree  only  a  little, 
the  huge  mass  of  the  oak,  moved  by  a  divine  blast 
from  above,  fell  with  shattered  top  ;  and  as  if  by  com- 
mand of  a  higher  power,  burst  asunder  into  four  parts, 
and  four  equal  fragments  of  huge  bulk  lay  revealed 
without  any  effort  of  the  brothers  who  stood  round 
about."  With  the  wood  of  this  oak,  Boniface  built  a 
church. 

Spirits  of  the  water  are  plentiful  in  Germanic  my- 
thology, and  had  a  special  cult  which  survived  into 
modern  superstition.  Plutarch,  in  his  "  Caesar,"  has  an 
interesting  and  valuable  passage  which  not  only  shows 
us  the  prophetic  functions  of  the  German  woman, 
but  gives  us  positive  evidence  of  Germanic  religious 
ceremonies  in  their  primitive  form.  When  Caesar  sud- 
denly appeared  with  his  soldiers  before  the  army  of 
Ariovistus,  the  barbarian  host  was  in  consternation. 
"  They  were  still  more  discouraged  by  the  prophecies 
of  their  holy  women,  who  foretell  the  future  by  observ- 
ing the  eddies  of  rivers,  and  taking  signs  from  the  wind- 
ings and  noise  of  streams,  and  who  now  warned  them 
not  to  engage  before  the  next  new  moon  appeared."  ^ 
J.  Grimm  explains  the  divination  from  an  eddy  or 
whirlpool  by  the  theory  that  such  movements  were 
caused  by  the  spirits  who  dwelt  in  the  water.^  Be- 
sides this  official  divination,  from  the  murmur  and 
windings  of  the  watercourses,  there  was  direct  wor- 
ship of  the  spirits  who  haunted  spring  and  fountain. 
True,  we  are  told  that  it  was  worship  at  the  foun- 
tain, at  the  stream ;  and  many  modern  writers  insist 
that  these  were  simply  hallowed  places  meet  for  the 
worship  of  the  dead.     But  fountains,  like  trees,  with 

1  Clough's  Plutarch,  IV.  276  [Boston  ed.  of  1859] .      «  D.  M.*  492. 


390 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


891 


all  the  mystery  of  rippling  living  watei-s,  or  the  life- 
like murmur  of  foliage,  were  very  different  places 
from  the  dull  stone  above  a  grave ;  and  much  of  the 
worship  must  have  been  directed  to  the  informing 
and  potent  spirit  of  the  place,  to  a  personality  which 
neither  stood  out  from  its  haunt  as  a  distinct  ances- 
tral soul,  nor  yet  merged  entirely  in  the  element ;  it 
was  an  animating  presence,  holding  border-ground  be- 
tween individuality  and  a  vaguely  felt  natural  power. 
Water-worship  is  almost  univereal,  found  in  every 
place  and  time,  from  the  river-god  of  classical  lore 
down  to  the  sacred  well  of  the  superstitious  Euro- 
pean peasant.!  Woi-ship  at  springs  and  wells,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  repeatedly  forbidden  in  the  canons ; 
Anglo-Saxon  decrees  forbid  the  bringing  of  candle  or 
offering  to  these  once  sacred  places,  and  prayers  and 
vigils  at  the  fountain  are  likewise  put  under  ban.^ 
The  same  holds  good  of  all  Germanic  races.  For  the 
Scandinavians  we  have  testimony  of  Ari.  "  Thorstan 
Rednebb  was  a  great  sacrificer;  he  worshipped  the 
waterfall  ...  and  used  to  have  all  the  leavings 
taken  to  the  waterfall ;  he  was  a  great  prophet.^'  ^  So 
Gregory  of  Tours  tells  about  offerings  and  sacrifices 
made  by  the  people  to  a  certain  lake;*  cheese  was 
one  of  the  offerings,  and  this  reminds  us  of  the 
"Cheesewell"  of  our  own  traditions,  which  had  its 
name  from  the  same  custom.  Belief  in  the  curative 
property  of  certain  holy  wells  is  common  enough 
down  to  the  present  time ;  a  heathen  well  of  repute 
easily  turned  Christian  with  the  country,  took  a  saint 
as  patron,  and  went  on  curing  and  blessing  as  before. 


1  Tylor,  p.  C.  U.  213  f . 

«  C.  p.  B.  I.  421,  quoted  from  Landn.  V.  5. 


2  D.  M.^  484  n. 
4  D.  M*  496. 


Tales  of  such  are  abundant ;  one  well  in  England  is 
celebrated  by  Roger  of  Hoveden  as  making  the  blind 
see,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dumb  talk,  and  the  lame  receive 
power  of  limb.    A  woman  far  gone  in  dropsy  went  to 
this  well  by  advice  of  an  abbot,  drank,  and  vomited 
two  huge  black  toads,  which  changed  into  immense 
dogs  of  the  same  color  and  then  into  asses.     They 
were  driven  off,  and  the  woman  recovered  her  health.^ 
Strip  away  the  monkish  wrappings,  and  we  have  the 
virtue  of  a  good  old  heathen  well.    The  dualism  which 
was  partly  original  and  partly  owing  to  the  discredit 
of  heathen  worship,  shows  us  another  sort  of  cult  in 
this  domain ;  for  evil  and  malicious  spirits  haunted 
the  water,  and  worked  endless  mischief  among  the 
sons  of  men.     Now  magic,  a  very  old  affair,  could  be 
put  into  operation  against  these  evil  powers,  or  else 
they  might  be  propitiated  by  a  sacrifice  of  some  sort. 
Cases  of  the  latter  method  we  shall  presently  con- 
sider;   the  former  is   illustrated  by  the  custom  of 
throwing  metallic  objects,  preferably  of  iron  or  steel, 
into  the  well  or  the  stream,  and  thus  binding  or  para- 
lyzing the  power  of  the  water-spirit.     Iron  and  steel 
were  supposed  to  limit  spiritual  agencies ;  and  here, 
says  Liebrecht,  is  the  real  explanation  of  our  maxim 
that  lovei-s  or  friends  should  not  make  mutual  pres- 
ents of  knife  or  scissors  or  anything  of  the  sort.2 
Cornish  folk,  says   Tylor,   drop  pins  and  nails  into 
their  holy  wells.^     All  manner  of  curious  customs 
were  associated  with  the  search  for  cure  or  blessing 
at  these  holy  wells,  and  some  are  collected  by  Brand.* 

1  Liebrecht,  Otia  Imperialia  of  Gerv.  Tilh.  p.  103 

2  Otia  Imp.  p.  101.  8  p.  c.  II.  214. 

<  Antiquities,  "  Customs  and  Superstitions  concerning  Wells  and 
Fountains.  *\ 


392 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


Divination  was  practised,  as  where  people  dropped 
pebbles  into  the  water,  or  provoked  the  rising  of 
bubbles,  and  interpreted  the  signs  according  to  a 
traditional  code.  More  direct  was  the  usage  at  the 
"  wishing-well,"  where  the  supplicant  threw  into  the 
water  a  piece  of  gold  and  then  made  his  prayer. 
Fountains  were  known  to  foretell  plague  or  famine, 
or,  in  less  sweeping  fashion,  the  approach  of  a  tem- 
pest. Wells  were  decorated  with  flowers;  in  one 
English  village,  on  a  certain  day,  the  clergyman  and 
choristers  were  wont  "  to  pray  and  sing  psalms  at  the 

wells." 

The  notion  of  "  healing  springs "  is,  of  course,  no 
vulgar  superstition.     From  oldest  times  the  virtues 
of  certain  waters  must  have  been  known ;  and  with 
our  Germanic  forefathers  the  salt-springs  had  prece- 
dence, and  were  brought  into  close  connection  with 
the  cult.     The  famous   passage  of   Tacitus,^  which 
tells  how  two  Germanic  tribes  struggled  for  such  a 
dear  possession,  also  informs  us  that  these  Germans 
believed  the  place  itself  to  be  of  unusual  sanctity, 
and  thought  the  salt  was  produced  by  the  direct  and 
gracious  intervention  of  the  divinities.     When  water 
was  thrown  upon  burning  logs,  the  rude  method  em- 
ployed to  make  the  salt,  that  precious  substance  was 
produced  by  divine  agency  from  these  opposing  ele- 
ments of  fire  and  water. 

The  purifying  functions  of  water  bring  it  into  con- 
nection with  a  great  variety  of  ceremonies.  Lustra- 
tion is  found  in  all  directions.^  Sacred  rivers  meet 
us  in  every  land,  and  every  village  has  its  haunted 
brook  or  spring.     The  rain  itself  is  holy,  and  when  it 

1  Ann.  XIII.  57.  ^  Tylor,  P.  C.  II.  429  fP. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


393 


falls  into  an  open  grave,  it  is  a  sign  that  the  soul  of 
the  dead  is  already  among  the  blessed ;  i  it  is  God's 
benediction.     "  In  olden  time,"  begins  the  first  Helgi- 
Lay,  "in  olden  time  when  eagles  were  calling  on 
high,  and  holi/  streams  poured  down  from  the  heights 
of  heaven.  .  .  ."     In  stress  of  drought  men  sought 
by  magic  to  bring  down  the  rain,  and  the  church  con- 
demns those  "qui  mergunt  imagines  in  aquam  pro 
pluvia  obtinenda."2      Holy-water  itself  is  a  conces- 
sion of  the  church  to  the  old  well  and  fountain  wor- 
ship;  but  whether,  as  many  have  claimed,  baptism 
and  the  use  of  water  in  sprinkling  and  purifying 
were  known  to  heathen  custom,  is  a  disputed  point. 
Mention  is  made  of  them  in  Old  Norse  annals  ;  but 
while  Miillenhoff  defends  their  heathen  origin,  Mau- 
rer  thinks  they  were  imitated  from  the  rites  of  the 
church,  and  has  secured  for  his  theory  the  emphatic 
approval  of  Bugge.^     But  even  if  the  rite  of  sprin- 
kling was  taken  from  the  church,  a  custom  of  dipping 
or  otherwise  bathing  new-born  children  in  running 
water,  which  prevailed  among  the  ancient  Germans, 
was  surely  more  than  a  mere  "  bath,"  and  had  ritual 
significance.     Moreover,  when  we  find  this  saying  of 
Odin's :  "  If  I  pour  water  upon  the  young  thane,  he 
falls  not,  though  he  go  to  battle  ;  he  sinks  not  under 
the  sword,"  4  even  if  we  admit  the  influence  of  bap- 

1  Wolf,  Beitrdge,  I.  216.  • 

2  Wolf,  Beitr.  I.  237.    Grimm  gives  several  other  ceremonies  prac- 
tised  by  European  peasants  for  the  same  purpose.    D.  M.*  493  ff 

i«^^x."'^f  ^T^""'  ^^'^''*  ^'^  TTasserioeiTie  d.  rjerm.  Ileidenthumes, 
1880;  MuUenhoff  in  the  "  Anzeiger  "  of  Hmipt's  Zst.,  Bd.  VII. ;  Bugge 
iitudier,  371  flf .    A  comprehensive  review  of  the  general  subject  is  Pfan- 
nenschmid,  Das  Weihwasser  im  heidnischen  u.  christlichen  Cultus 
Hanover,  1869.  4  Bugge,  p.  376  f . 


394 


GERMAIsnC  ORIGINS 


tismal  rites,  we  must  suppose  something  in  the  old 
heathen  ceremonial  to  which  this  act  bore  some  re- 
semblance.    Running  water  seems  to  have  had  spe- 
cial virtue.     We  may  work  backwards  from  Tam  o' 
Shanter  and  his  Meg  to  the  leechdoms  of   Anglo- 
Saxon  folk-lore,  surely  full  of  heathen  reminiscence, 
where  we  find  as  cure  for  erysipelas  on  man  or  horse, 
a  charm,  to  be  sung  over  the  man's  head  or  in  the 
horse's  left  ear,  in  running  water,  and  with  the  head 
against  the  stream.^     In  Norway  and  Sweden,  land 
of  cataracts,  the  virtues  of  running  water  would  nat- 
urally find  ample  recognition.    The  spirit  who  haunts 
the  waterfall  is  helpful  or  harmful,  and  can  be  cajoled 
into  imparting  valuable  knowledge,  or  else  must  be 
propitiated  by  sacrifice  to  avert  the  consequences  of 
his  ill-favor.     He  has  power  to  teach  men  music  and 
magic,  and  Henrik  Ibsen's   poem,  SpiUemcend,  will 
occur  to  lovers  of  modern  Scandinavian  literature. 
We  have  already  heard  from  Ari  of  a  man  who  was 
careful  to  sacrifice  to  the  cataract.      This  was  for 
general  prosperity ;  but  particularly  the  art  of  music 
is  best  learned  from  such  a  master.     To  learn  to  play 
the  harp,  says  Swedish  folk-lore,  offer  a  black  lamb 
to  the  spirit  of  the  waterfall ;  while  in  Norway,  the 
Fossegrim  teaches  one  to  play  the  fiddle.     He  grasps 
the  learner's  right  hand  and  sways  it  about  so  long 
.that  blood  starts  from  every  finger-tip ;   after  that, 
one  can  play  so  that  the  very  trees  will  dance.     Finer 
yet  is  the  touch  of  blended  old  and  new  belief  in  the 
folk's  tradition  that  Nix  would  gladly  purchase  im- 

1  Cockayne,  III.  70.    For  "wens  at  the  heart"  there  is  a  similar 
charm,  III.  75. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


395 


mortality  and  salvation  by  thus  teaching  the  Christian 
how  to  play  the  violin.^ 

Loveliest  of  all  water-spirits,  and  brought  into 
manifold  touch  with  old  and  later  cult,  are  the  swan- 
maidens.  One  of  the  finest  passages  of  the  Nibelun- 
gen  Lay  is  where  Hagen  surprises  these  wise  women 
of  the  flood,  and  forces  tliem  to  uncover  the  secrets 
of  the  future.  Here  it  is  not  the  mortal  watching 
from  the  bank  who  foretells  things  to  come  as  he 
watches  the  ripples  of  the  stream ;  it  is  the  creatures 
of  the  flood  itself. 


Both  up  and  down  the  river  he  sought  the  ferryman ;  2 
He  heard  the  plash  of  water :  to  listen  he  began. 
*Twas  wise-women  who  caused  it ;  all  in  a  fountain  fair 
They  made  them  fain  to  dally  and  cool  and  bathe  them  there. 

When  Hagen  had  espied  them,  he  stole  in  silence  near, 
And  when  they  marked  his  coming,  right  mickle  was  their  fear: 
That  they  outran,  escaped  him,  them  seemed  a  mighty  jov. 
The  hero  took  their  garments,  nor  made  them  more  annoy. 

Spake  one  of  the  mere-women,  —  Hadburg  was  her  name,  — 
"  Here  will  we  tell  you,  Hagen,  O  noble  knight  of  fame,  ' 
If  you  now,  gallant  swordsman,  our  raiment  but  restore. 
Your  journey  into  Hunland,  and  all  that  waits  you  more." 

Like  birds  they  swept  and  hovered  before  him  on  the  flood, 
Wherefore  him  seemed  their  toisdom  must  mickle  be  and  good. 

She  said :  "  To  Etzel's  kingdom  ye  do  right  well  to  fare ; 
Be  witness  my  assurance  of  all  I  now  declare : 
To  no  realm  ever  heroes  have  better  ta'en  their  way. 
To  such  a  noble  welcome !  —  Believe  me  what  I  say!" 

1  D.  M*  408 ;  Matthew  Arnold's  poem  Neckan.  Deadly  water-spirits 
are  plentiful,  but  the  catalogue  belongs  to  mythology.  The  Nicer  is 
Anglo-Saxon  ancestor  of  •*  Nick." 

2  To  convey  the  Burguudians  over  the  river. 


396 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


in 


i  II 


Her  words  were  good  to  Hagen  and  made  his  spirit  glad. 
He  gave  them  back  their  raiment.     No  sooner  were  they  clad 
In  all  their  magic  garments,  they  made  him  understand 
In  truth  the  fate  that  waited  his  ride  to  Etzel's  land. 

It  was  the  second  mere-wife,  Sigelind,  who  spake : 

*♦  O  son  of  Aldriane,  Hagen,  my  warning  take ! 

'Twas  yearning  for  the  raiment  my  sister's  falsehood  made  ; 

And  if  thou  goest  to  Hunland,  Lord  Hagen,  thou'rt  betrayed ! "  i 

Hereupon  they  tell  him  the  true  fate  of  the  expedi- 
tion. An  army  of  similar  water-spirits  with  prophetic 
powers  could  be  marshalled  from  oldest  times  down 
to  Scott's  "  White  Lady  "  in  the  Monastery. 

Whatever  may  be   said  of  these  mild  types   of 
water-cult,  there  is  no  doubt  in  regard  to  the  worship 
of  spirits  which  rule  over  flood  and  tempest.     Our 
own  ancestors  who  dwelt  by  the  North  Sea,  and  their 
neighbors  the  Danes,  knew  this  cult.     Sometimes  the 
evil  spirit  was  propitiated  with  a  sacrifice ;  sometimes 
a  god  of  light  and  cheer  was  appealed  to  and  made 
to  conquer  the  demon.     Such  is  the  fate  of  Grendel 
in  our  BSoivulf;  and  it  is  significant  that  an  English 
local  name,    G-rendlesmere,  has  preserved  a  distinct 
piece  of  testimony  to  the  spirit  and  his  cult.^    Folk- 
lore tells  many  a  tale  to  illustrate  the  other  method. 
A  legend  of  the  Danish  coast  runs  as  follows :  ^  On 
the  west  coast  of  Jylland  it  is  said  that  the  sea  will 
have  his  yearly  sacrifice  in  return  for  not  breaking  in 
upon  the  countiy  ;  and  that  therefore  in  the  old  times 
people  had  a  custom  of  exposing  every  year  a  little 
child  in  a  barrel,  since  otherwise,  oftener  than  not, 

1  N.  L.  1473  ff. 

2  Document  of  iEthelstan's  time  (031)  in  Cod.  Dip.  II.  72. 

3  Thiele,  Danmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  3. 


THE  WORSHIP   OF  NATURE 


397 


there  followed  great  ruin  and  destruction.^  A  milder 
rite  was  the  yearly  bath  of  the  women  of  Cologne  on 
the  eve  of  St.  John,  by  which  they  sought  to  avoid 
evil  and  bad  luck  for  the  coming  year ;  it  seems  to 
have  been  a  real  Rhine-cult,  and  aroused  great  interest 
in  the  poet  Petrarch,  who  saw  it  in  the  year  1330  and 
described  it  in  a  letter  to  a  friend.^  Finally,  we  come 
to  the  victim  seized  by  the  nix,  or  anticipated  by 
sacrifice  of  some  beast;  'folk-lore  is  full  of  these 
tragedies,  and  the  legends  about  the  water-spirits  fill 
volumes.  Nix  is  mostly  cruel  and  vindictive.  Often 
he  appears  as  a  black  horse  or  a  bull,  climbing  from 
stream  or  lake  to  carrv  off  his  victim ;  what  is  no 
longer  given  he  must  take.  Here,  too,  belong  the 
rites  at  the  opening  of  a  bridge,  —  a  live  cock  built 
into  the  wall  in  lieu  of  the  victim,  and  so  shading 
back  into  human  sacrifice.  The  bather  seized  by 
cramp  or  caught  in  an  eddy  of  the  stream,  believes 
that  he  is  pulled  down  by  a  demon  of  the  flood. 
To-day  we  have  a  dozen  superstitions  about  bather's 
cramp ;  one  wears  an  amulet,  or  even  goes  through 
some  absurd  performance  to  ward  off  the  danger.^ 

Dwarfs  have  been  mentioned ;  we  must  not  forget 
the  giants.  While  these  are  mostly  represented  as 
foes  of  man  and  hated  by  the  gods,  the  nimble  and 
keen-witted  divinities  of  a  new  order  of  things,  while 
they  are  held  up  to  ridicule  as  a  heavy  race,  dull  as 
the  stones  of  their  native  mountains,  none  the  less 
we  may  discover  probable  traces  *  of  a  cult  directed 
to  these  same  stupidities.     Offerings  to  giants  occur 

1  See  also  "  Odense  Aamand's  Offer,"  II.  17.        2  j).  M.*  489. 

«  Details  in  Tylor,  P.  C.  II.  209  ff. 

*  **  Kaum  Spuren,"  says,  however,  J.  Grimm,  D.  M.*  4G1. 


398 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


in  legend  and  superstition.  Like  Milton's  "lubbar 
fiend,"  such  a  being  will  plough  and  thresh  and  do 
other  services  for  men,  in  order  "  to  earn  his  cream- 
bowl  duly  set."  In  the  Kormakssaga  occurs  the 
word  hldtrisi,  "  giant  to  whom  one  makes  sacrifice  "  ; 
but  Vigfusson  in  his  Dictionary  defines  it  "an  en- 
chanted champion,"  with  a  mark  of  doubt.  Stones 
smeared  with  butter  may  have  been,  as  Grimm  re- 
marks, a  compliment  to  the  giants.  Worship  at 
the  huge  stone  tombs,  believed  to  be  the  sepulchres 
of  a  giant  race,  must  have  been  in  a  manner  worship 
of  the  giant-spirits  which  haunted  the  place.  The 
old  homilies  explain  the  heathen  gods  as  "giants," 
and  "  men  who  were  very  mighty."  ^  Certain  gods 
are  called  directly  giants,  —  "  Mercury  the  giant." 

Such  ceremonies   as  we   have   hitherto  described 
were    of   an  intimate  and  personal   character,   and 
limited  to  a  narrow  round  of  domestic  life ;  but  we 
must  now  broaden    our  view,  and,  first   of  all,  in 
addition  to  the  cult  of  spirits  who  dwelt  in  the  dif- 
ferent elements,  and  at  bidding  would  take  human 
form  and  appear  to  the  mortal  who  knew  the  way  to 
summon  them,  we  must  admit  a  direct  worship  of 
the  elements  themselves.     It  was  a  vague  personality 
which  seemed  in   the   storm-wind  to  prostrate   the 
giant  oak  and  hew  a  path  through  the  forest,  but  it 
was  a  personality  none  the  less.    Human  power  could 
never  compass   such   destruction,  and  the  ancestral 
spirits  were  out  of  the  question ;  with  the  evidence  of 
earliest  language,  and  a   careful  study   of  modern 
savage  reasoning,  we  come  to  the  assurance  that  our 
remote  forefathers  must  have  worshipped  from  the 

1  Kemble,  Salomon  and  Saturn,  p.  120  ff. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


399 


outset  the  animated  forces  of  nature.  These  were 
spoken  of  as  persons,  and  in  most  cases  were  regular 
divinities,  —a  heaven-god,  a  thunder-god,  a  wind-god. 
Before,  however,  we  approach  the  cult  of  these 
deities,  we  must  trace  the  more  direct  worship  of  the 
elements. 

Caesar  says  ^  of  the  Germans  that  they  have  no  gods 
save  those  whom  their  perceptions  reveal  to  them  and 
by  whose  agency  they  have  material  profit,  such  as 
Sun,  Moon,  and  Fire:  "Solem  et  Vulcanum  et  Lu- 
nam."     Caesar  was  undoubtedly  wrong  2  in  his  limi- 
tation ;  but  his  positive  testimony  is  of  value.     He 
shows  a  tendency  of  the  Germans  to  worship  deities 
which   were   intimately   connected   with  powers   of 
nature,  as  well  as  the  Germanic  veneration  for  these 
powers  in  and  for  themselves.     Let  us  take  for  the 
first  an  element  which  Caesar  does  not  name,  — water. 
We  have  already  seen  how  fain  our  ancestors  were 
to  worship  at  wells  and  springs,  and  how  wide  was 
the  power  of  healing  which  they  attributed  to  the 
agency  of  any  sacred  fountain.     But  the  element 
Itself  was  held  in  highest  veneration,  and  this  is  par- 
ticularly manifest  in  the  old  leechdoms.     "  Let  the 
woman,"  runs  an  Anglo-Saxon  specimen,^  "  who  can- 
not bring  forth  [or  feed,  nourish?]  her  child,  take  in 
her  hand  milk  from  a  cow  of  one  color,  and  then  sup 
It  witli  her  mouth,  and  then  go  to  running  water  and 
dip  up  with  the  same  hand  a  mouthful  of  the  water 
and  swallow  it:  then  let  her  speak  these  words.  .  .  ." 
How  to  get  the  water  is  more  important  than  its 
source :  —  at  midnight  or  before  dawn,  in  absolute 

^  B.G.  Vh21.  ^D.M  85 

3  Wiilker-Grein,  Bibl  I.  327 ;  Cockayne,  III.  69. 


400 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


silence,  with  one's  hand  scooping  up  the  water  against 
or  with  the  stream  and  turning  towards  the  east,  tak- 
ing the  water  from  three  separate  brooks,  and  what 
not.i  Celtic  water-worship  was  pronounced;  in  a 
certain  well  a  broken  sword  is  made  whole,  and  "  the 
spring  that  turneth  wood  to  stoue,"  mentioned  by  the 
king  to  Laertes  in  Hamlet^  had  doubtless  something 
more  than  chemical  traditions.^ 

Fire  in  many  ways  resembles  water ;  ^  it  is  full  of 
motion,  capricious,  serviceable,  destructive.  Tylor 
divides  fire-cult  into  two  varieties,  —  worship  of  the 
actual  flame  before  the  devotee,  and  worship  of  any 
fire  as  manifestation  of  the  fire-god.*  While  the 
orient  is  the  peculiar  home  of  this  cult,  we  find  ample 
evidence  of  it  among  the  races  of  Europe ;  Slavonic 
tribes  are  perhaps  most  prominent.  The  fire  upon 
the  hearth  is  of  course  the  centre  of  all  domestic 
ceremony  of  the  sort ;  brides  on  entering  their  new 
home  were  once  led  about  the  hearth,  then  central 
in  the  hall ;  and  nowadays  an  Esthonian  bride  throws 
money  into  the  flames,  or  else  a  live  offering,  such 
as  a  chicken.^  A  devouring  and  greedy  monster, 
fire  is  appeased  by  such  gifts  and  does  not  fall  upon 
house  or  barn.  Worship  of  fire  is  forbidden  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  laws  and  decrees.  Cnut's  definition  of 
heathendom  included  the  cult  of  "  sun  and  moon,  fire 
and  flood-water,"  but  Grimm  can  find  little  else  to 
testify  to  a  regular  cult  of  fire  among  the  Germans. 
Probably  it  was  a  prevailing  sentiment  rather  than 
a  special  cult.     There  is  a  certain  gratitude  for  the 

1  Leechdoms,  passim.  2  2>.  M.  487. 

*  Etymology  helps  us  with  our  English  burn  and  German  Bronnen. 

♦  P.  0.  II.  277  ff .  6  Ibid.  II.  285 ;  D.  M.  501. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


401 


benefits  of  fire,  natural  to  inhabitants  of  a  cold  coun- 
try, as  where  the  Edda,  in  different  mood  from  Pin- 
dar's, says  that  fire  is  the  best  thing  for  mortals;^ 
while  in  the  cosmogony  of  the  Scandinavian  myths 
the  same  element  plays  a  great  part  in  the  bringing 
forth  of  life.  The  assumption  that  primitive  Ger- 
manic faith  looked  forward  to  a  great  fire  which 
should  end  the  world,  — that  from  Muspellsheim  came 
the  creative  warmth,  and  thence  also  shall  come  the 
element  of  universal  destruction,  —  is  not  now  held  by 
all  mythologists.  It  is  disputed  by  Bugge,^  who  refers 
to  Christian  influences  this  whole  notion  of  the  end  of 
the  world  ;  and  he  is  joined  by  other  authorities.^ 

The  survivals  mostly  show  us  fire  as  object  of  wor- 
ship on  account  of  its  purifying  and  healing  proper- 
ties, —  a  desperate  but  potent  cure.     In  the  Mark  of 
Brandenburg  we  find  traces  of  what  was  doubtless, 
in  old  times,  a  far  more  terrible  rite.     Until  lately, 
peasants  of  that  neighborhood  were  wont  to  meet 
sickness  in  swine  by  driving  them  through  a  fire, 
made  under  the  most  careful  conditions,  by  the  fric- 
tion of  a  rope,  or  similar  device.    In  other  places,  and 
under  the  same  circumstances,  a  similar  sacred  fire  is 
prepared ;  all  other  fires  in  the  village  being  mean- 
while extinguished,  and  swine,  cattle,  poultry  even, 
are  driven  through  the  healing  flame.*     We  could 
collect  a  number  of  similar  survivals  in  which  fire 
plays  this  purifying  and  healing  part.^     It  is  sig- 

1  D,  M.  500.  2  Studier,  p.  419  f. 

8  Meyer,  Vdluspa,  p.  182,  says  that  this  Norse  and  sporadically  Ger- 
man doctrine  of  the  world's  end  "  has  not  been  proved  to  be  primitive 
German  belief."  -*  7).  3/.  503  f. 

6  The  smoke  of  these  fires  is  beneficent.  If  it  passed  over  and 
through  the  branches  of  fruit  trees,  it  ensured  a  heavy  crop. 


402 


il 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


403 


nificant  —  one  thinks  of  the  Roman  custom  —  that  in 
many  of  these  village  rites  only  persons  of  a  pure 
life  are   allowed  to  take  a  leading  part;    and  the 
favorite  fashion  of  kindling  the  so-called  neid-fire,^ 
by  the  rubbing  of  sticks,  could  be  matched  by  similar 
restrictions  in  rites  of  other  races.    A  double  sanctity 
must  have  informed  the  ceremony  when  the  "neid- 
fire  "  was  used  to  heat  water,  which  one  proceeded  to 
sprinkle  over  cattle  afflicted  with  the  murrain.^    Fire 
played  a  great  part  in  the  midsummer  festivals  of  the 
heathen ;  and  held  through  later  times,  as  at  Easter, 
or  at  St.  John's  day,  when  great  fires  were  lighted 
on  the  mountains  and  hilltops,  and  the  whole  coun- 
try-side seemed  to  be  ablaze.      Around   these  fires 
the   people  danced   and   sported,  jumped  over  and 
through  the  flames,  and  thus  kept  up  in  traditional 
forms  of  merry-making  the  old   severities   of   their 
forefathers'  cult.      A  rude   sort   of   divination  was 
practised  with  this  aid.     Wheels  bound  with  straw, 
and  so  set  on  fire,  were  rolled  down  the  hillside,  into 
the  river  below ;  if  the  fire  held  till  it  touched  the 
water,  a  good  vintage  was  foretold  that  year.^     Else- 
where the  wheel  takes  away  all  ill-luck  from  the 
people  of  the  village.^    We  hear  of  all  manner  of 
fires  at  this  season ;  "  made  of  bones,"  one  sort,  —  the 
modern  bon-fire,  according  to  a  half-parlous  etymol- 
ogy ;  5  fire  of  "  clean  wood  "  ;  fire  of  wood  and  bones 

1  This  form  is  Scotch.  The  German  form  is  much  older.  It  is  men- 
tioned in  742,  and  forbidden  as  a  heathen  rite,— "iUos  sacrilegos 
ignes."  The  Indiculus  speaks,  "de  igne  fricato  de  ligno,  id  est,  nod- 
fyr."     D.  M.  502.    See  Mannhardt,  Baumk.  p.  518  ff. 

2  D.  M.  507.  8  Ibid.  514  ff. 
^  Brand,  Antiquities,  "Summer  Solstice." 

5  Skeat,  Diet.,  and  Brand  as  quoted  above. 


mixed.     Mention  is  made  in  an  obscure  poem  quoted 
by  Brand,  but  charged  with  classical  allusions,  of  the 
habit  of  ''casting  mylk  to  the  Bonefyre."     Farmers 
were  wont  to  go  around  their  cornfields  with  burn- 
ing torches ;  ^  and  in  every  way  a  superfluity  of  heat 
and  light  seems    to  have   been   in  order.      At   the 
opposite  season  of  the  year,  the  winter  solstice,  we 
find  fire  in  the  same  popularity,  —  witness  the  Yule 
Log  and  its  train  of  ceremonies.    It  is  hard,  however, 
in  this  case  to  disentangle  the  ceremonial  from  the 
practical  uses  of  fire.    Michaelmas,  too,  had  its  fires ; 
then,  as  in  midsummer,  blazed  the  torch,  and  the 
straw-covered  wheel  rolled  down  the  hillside  with  a 
crowd  of  torch-bearers  rushing  after  it;  by  the  brook, 
the  goal  of  the  wild  chase,  peasant-girls  waited  for 
the  runners,  and  gave  them  cakes  and  wine,  as  pro- 
logue to  the  dance.     Many  of  these  rites  survived, 
even  into  our  century,  and  are  beyond  all  reasonable 
doubt  relics  of   heathen   ceremony .2     A  little  later 
than  Michaelmas,  on  St.  Martin's  day,  fires  blazed  in 
even  more   persistent  fashion;    torches  were   borne 
about,  fields  and  orchards  were  visited,  and  in  many 
places,  baskets  of  grain  or  fruit  were  cast  directly 
into  the  flames,  —  an  evident  sacrifice.^ 

In  short,  not  to  multiply  examples  of  this  sort, 
still  less,  to  lose  ourselves  in  speculations  about 
symbols,  it  is  evident  that  fire  survives  in  all  these 
ceremonies  partly  as  a  once  universal  means  of  wor- 
ship offered  to  various  powers,  and  partly  as  an  ele- 

thlX^'^^^'T^  ^'^^l^.  *^'  ^^'^^"^  ^^'^^^  ^^  ^''  '^^^'^'^  «^«  i«  called 
Wt  P  r  '  l^.  P^a^nenschmid  {Erntefeste,  pp.  67.  384;  Mann- 
hardt Banmk,  p.  500)  concludes  that  the  rite  was  meant  to  defend 
crops  from  the  ravages  of  hail. 

2  Pfannenschmid,  Erntefeste,  pp.  117,  491.  8  ibid.  210  If. 


/ 


404 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


405 


ment  which  found  its  own  cult  among  people  who 
wished  its  beneficence  and  feared  its  dangers,— 
recognizing  it  doubtless  as  the  most  important  factor 
ever  added  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  But  even 
in  fire-woi-ship  we  cannot  fail  to  find  the  trace  of 
manes-cult.  The  soul  was  fancied  as  flame,  and  about 
the  dead  man's  barrow  hovered  an  uncanny  fire.  As 
usual,  the  popular  belief  is  perverted  into  superstition 
of  wiser  ages,  and  only  the  evil  and  grosser  souls 
suffer  this  fiery  imprisonment.  Such  are  the  dismal 
lights  of  the  churchyard. 

Direct  cult  of  the  wind  is  not  illogical ;    for  the 
storm  has  its  terrors  to  be  averted,  and  milder  breezes 
bring  clouds  and  fertilizing  rain.     Feeding  the  wind 
IS  a   rite   which   we   have   already   noticed;    Tylor 
quotes  a  charm  from  New  Zealand,  where,  however, 
the  element  seems  to  be  personified.^     The  air,  like 
water  and  fire,  is  a  purifying  agent;    but  it  is' hard 
to  tell  what  logic  of  ceremony  survives  in  the  odd 
notion  of  a  Danish  huntsman  that  to  obtain  charmed 
bullets  and  sure  aim   (frit   sJcud)   he   must   let   the 
wind  of  a   Thursday  morning  blow   into   his   gun- 
barrel.     Thiele  says  it  means  a  pact  with  the  Wild 
Huntsman,  who  is  ruler  of  the  air.2     Superstition  has 
much  to  say  about  witches  who  can  raise  the  wind, 
cause  storms,  and  the  like.     This  is  black  magic  ;  but 
more   legitimate  are  the  ceremonies,  once  part  of  a 
cult,  now  mostly  broken  and  silly  remnants,  which 
avert  the  harmful   agency  of   storm   and   flood  and 
hail.      These  ceremonies  were  either  public  or  pri- 
vate, and,   judging   by  the   survivals,^  of   the   most 

I  f  •  ?•  "•  ^'^^'  *  Thiele,  Dcmmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  112. 

A  list  of  these,  too  long  to  quote,  in  Pfannenschmid.  Ernte/este, 

p.  oio  I. 


varied  character.  Direct  testimony  of  our  heathen 
ancestors'  doings  in  this  particular  cult  is  given  by 
a  decree  of  Charlemagne  against  the  custom  of  "  bap- 
tizing "  bells  to  act  as  prevention  of  the  hail,  or  of 
writing  upon  cards  and  attaching  the  latter  to  poles 
set  up  in  the  fields.  The  "runes "  were  undoubtedly 
forbidden  because  of  their  heathenish  nature ;  for  we 
read  of  a  case  where  a  bishop  took  a  piece  of  wax 
from  the  grave  of  a  saint,  fastened  it  to  one  of  the 
highest  trees,  and  so  drove  away  the  hailstorms  that 
had  before  laid  waste  his  fields.^ 

As  to  the  earth,  the  "  mother  "  of  so  many  myths, 
we  shall  have  difficulty  in  separating  any  direct  cult 
from   the   worship   of  an    earth-goddess.      A    long 
charm  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin  2  contains  amid  a  mass 
of  clerical   superstition   a  few  fragments    of  older 
heathenism.      It    runs   as   follows:    "Here    is    the 
remedy  how  thou   canst   remedy  thy  fields  if   they 
will  not  bear  well,  or  if  any  improper  thing  is  done 
thereupon  in  the  way  of  magic,  or  of  bewitching  by 
drugs.     Take  thou  by  night,  before  daybreak,  four 
pieces  of  turf  on  the  four  sides  of  the  land,  and  note 
how   they  previously  stood.      Take   then    oil    and 
honey  and  barm  and  milk  of  all  cattle  that  may  be 
on  the  land,  and  part  of  every  kind  of  tree  that  may 
grow  on  the  land   except  hard   trees,^  and  part  of 
every  known  herb  except  burdock  *  alone,  and  put 
holy  water  thereon,  and  drop  thrice  on  the  place  of 

1  References  in  Pfann.  Erntef.  p.  57  ff. 

2  MS.  Cott.  Calig.  A.  of  the  British  Museum.    Printed  in  Grein- 
Wulker,  BihL  I.  312  flf . ;  D.  M*  1033 ;  Rieger,  Lesebuch,  p.  143  f . ;  Cock- 
ayne's Leechdoms,  I.  398  ff.      Cf.  also  Wulker,    Grdr.  d.   aas.  Lit 
p.  347  flf. 

«  Oak  and  beech.    Grimm,  D.  M.  1035 ;  /?.  A.  506. 
*  Cockayne  says  "  buckbeau  "  with  (?). 


406 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


I 


l> 


the  pieces  of  turf,  and  say  then  these  words :  '  Cre^- 
cite^  wax,  et  multiplieamini^  and  multiply,  et  replete^ 
and  fill,  terram,  this  earth.  In  nomine  patris  et  filii 
et  spiritus  saneti  sint^  benedicti,^  And  Pater  Foster 
as  often  as  the  other.  And  then  take  the  turves  to 
church,  and  let  the  mass-priest  sing  four  masses 
over  the  turves  and  let  the  green  part  be  turned 
towards  the  altar,  and  afterwards,  before  sunset,  take 
back  the  turves  thither  where  they  were.  And  have 
wrought  of  live  tree  four  signs  ^  of  Christ  and  write, 
on  each  end,  Matthew  and  Mark,  Luke  and  John. 
Lay  the  sign  of  Christ  on  the  bottom  of  the  pit  and 
then  say :  Crux  Mattheus^  crux  Marcus^  crux  Lucas, 
crux  sanctus  Johannes,  Take  then  the  turves  and 
set  them  there  above,  and  say  then  nine  times  these 
words :  Crescite  and  as  often  Pater  Noster,  and  turn 
thee  then  eastward,  and  bow  nine  times  humbly  and 
say  these  words :  — 

"  Eastward  I  stand,  I  ask  for  my  welfare, 
ask  I  the  Mighty  Lord,  ask  I  the  Mickle  God, 
ask  I  the  holy  Heavenly  Warder,  — 
Earth  I  ask  and  Up-Heaven  ^ 
and  the  sooth  Sancta  Maria 
and  heaven's  might  and  high  palace,^ 
that  I  this  charm  by  the  Chieftain's  ^  gift, 
may  open  with  *  teeth  in  earnest  mind, 
waken  these  fruits  for  our  worldly  use, 
till  these  fields  with  firm  belief, 
make  splendid  this  turf,  —  as  spake  the  prophet, 
that  he  speeds  on  earth  who  alms  divideth, 
weU  and  willingly  by  will  of  God. 

1  Sitis?    WiUker.  «  Crosses.  «  Cf.  O.  H.  G.  ufhimil. 

*  Reced  =  house,  but  in  Epinal  Gloss  (Sweet's  0.  E.  Texts,  p.  83) , 
rtecedlic=  palatina,  **  palatial."  ^  Drythten,  *' leader  "  =  God. 

«  Or  "  from  " ;  as  much  as  **  speak,"  like  the  Homeric  figure. 


THE   WORSHIP   OF  NATURE 


407 


"Turn  thee  then  thrice,  with  the  course  of  the  sun, 
stretch    thee    then    at  full    length,  and   say   these 
litanies,  and  then  say  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  to 
the   end.     Sing    then   Benedicite  with   outstretched 
arms,  and  Magnificat  and  Pater  Noster  thrice,  and 
commit  it  to   the  praise  and  glory  of  Christ  and 
Sancta  Maria,  and  the  Holy  Rood  and  the  profit  of 
him  who  owns  thy  land  and  all  those  that  are  placed 
under   him.     When   all   this   is  done,  then   let   un- 
known seed  be  taken  from  beggars,  and  let  there  be 
given  to  these  twice  as  much  as  one  takes  from  them, 
and  gather  together  all  the  ploughing  utensils  ;  then 
bore  in  the  plowtree  and  [place  in  the  hole]  incense 
and  fennel  and    hallowed  soap  and  hallowed  salt. 
Take  then  the  seed,  set  it  in  the  body  of  the  plow,  and 
say :  — 

"  Erce,  Erce,  Erce,  earth's  mother,* 

grant  thee  the  Almighty,  Master  Eternal, 

acres  waxing  and  waving  in  bloom, 

big  with  increase,  brave  to  see, 

store  of  stalks,  standing  corn,^ 

broad-leaved  barley's  bountiful  fruit, 

eke  the  white  of  the  wheat  in  plenty, 

and  likewise  all  the  earth's  abundance. 

Grant  to  him,  God  eternal, 

and  his  holy  saints  which  in  heaven  be, 

that  his  earth  be  defended  from  every  foe, 

be  safe  from  every  ill  and  drug 

thrown  by  magic  athwart  the  land ! 

Now  bid  I  the  Wielder,  this  world  who  made, 

no  woman  so  word-strong,8  no  man  be  so  mighty, 

to  turn  away  these  words  here  said  I 

1  Cockayne  makes  eor\>an  a  locative. 

2  A  desperate  translation  of  a  difficult  line.  Readings  differ,  and 
the  text  is  corrupt. 

8  We  notice  throughout  the  charm  that  chief  fear  is  of  women  and 
also  chief  hope  of  aid  from  women, -'« mother  of  earth,"  or  "mother 
earth,"  as  the  case  may  be. 


-«H.        lit      ■* 


408 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


"  Then  drive  the  plow  and  make  the  first  furrow. 
Say  then :  — 

"  Hail  to  thee,  Earth,  all  men's  mother, 
be  thou  growing  in  God's  protection, 
filled  with  food  for  feeding  of  men ! 

"Take  then  meal  of  every  kind  and  bake  a  loaf, '  as 
big  as  will  lie  within  his  two  hands,'  ^  and  knead  it 
with  milk  and  with  holy-water,  and  lay  it  under  the 
first  furrow.     Say  then :  — 

«  Full  field  of  food  for  folk  of  men, 
brightly  blooming,  blessed  be  thou, 
in  the  name  of  the  holy  one,  heaven's  maker, 
and  earth's  also,  whereon  we  live ; 
God,  world-maker,  grant  growing  gifts, 
that  all  our  corn  may  come  to  our  use ! 

Say  then  thrice  Orescite  in  nomine  patris^  sint  bene- 
dicti.    Amen  and  Fater  Noster  thrice."  ^ 

The  value  of  this  charm  is  evident;  for  all  the 
expenditure  of  clerical  forms  of  benediction,  there  is 
plenty  of  the  old  heathen  rite  left  in  full  view.  Who 
"Erce"  may  be  is  question  for  the  mythologists ;  ^ 
but  her  title  as  "  mother  of  earth  "  (or  mother  earth?) 
gives  us  sufficient  standing-ground  in  the  matter  of 
cult.*  As  Grimm  remarks,  earth  itself  was  "  holy," 
and  by  simple  logic  any  familiar  spot  of  earth  had  its 
sacred  character.  Whoso  abode  long  time  away  from 
his  land,  kissed  the  earth  by  way  of  greeting  on  his 
return ;  while  Brutus,  in  the  legend,  took  the  wider 

1  Cockayne.        2  For  a  few  kindred  rites,  see  Grimm,  D.  M.  1035  f. 
«  For  which  consult  the  passages  noted  by  Wiilker  in  his  Grimdriss, 
p.  349.  ■*  Myths  exist  in  plenty.    See  Tylor,  P.  C.  I.  326  f . 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


409 


view  of  his  relation. ^  To  die  was,  according  to  Scan- 
dinavian phrase,  "falling  to  mother  earth."  Turf  cut 
with  its  grass  fresh  upon  it  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  charni  just  given ;  and  it  is  perhaps  not  too  fan- 
ciful to  see  in  the  ceremony  of  entering  upon  blood- 
brotherhood,2  an  assumption  of  common  maternity  on 
the  part  of  the  earth  in  which  the  two  streams  of 
blood  flow  together.  Creeping  under  the  raised  sod 
was  also  part  of  various  rites ;  ^  and  oaths  were  made, 
as  by  holy  trees,  so  also  by  turf  and  grass. 

Partly  in  honor  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  fer- 
tility, partly  in  honor  of  the  sacred  earth  herself,  were 
the  manifold  processions  and  ceremonies  in  field  and 
garden.      In  the  tenth  century  we  find  a  German 
abbess  establishing  certain  ceremonies  which  are  to 
take  the  place  of  the  former  "heathen  processions 
about  the  fields."  *     This  was  at  Whitsuntide  ;  there 
was  to  be  watching  through  the  night,  a  solemn  pro- 
cession at  morning,  and  relics  were  to  be  borne  about 
the  fields.     From  these  substitutions  we  can  in  some 
measure  divine  the  heathen  rites.    Offerings  and  feast 
were  in  a  manner  continued,  and  survive  to  this  day 
in  some  parts  of  Germany  as  a  general  feeding  of  the 
poor  of  the  parish,  often  in  the  churchyard  itself.    In 
other  places  we  hear  of  games  and  sport,  which  are 
forbidden  by  the  synods  ;5  but  in  countless  villages  of 
the  Continent,  as  well  as  in  England,  the  chief  ele- 
ments of  these  solemn  processions  have  been  retained. 

1  D.  M.  534  f.  2  Above,  p.  173. 

\Le'  ^'  ^^^  ^'    ^^^^^  sy"il>olic  uses  of  turf  are  given  in  the  same 

^  In  m.    See  Pfaunenschmid,  Erntefeste,  p.  50  ff.,  84  ff.    Much 
material  is,  of  course,  collected  by  Mannhardt,  Feldkulte. 
°  Ibid.  53. 


ill 

i 


410 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


liiiii 


In  the  classical  cosmogonies,  Tellus  must  have 
her  Uranus,  and  a  heaven-god  is  familiar  enough  in 
mythology ;  but  the  cult  ^  of  overarching  sky  seems 
to  have  left  few  traces  in  our  popular  customs.  The 
conception  is  too  indefinite ;  but  no  such  vagueness 
has  hindered  the  worship  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars. 
For  the  cult  and  adoration  of  sun  and  moon  by 
heathen  Germany,  Caesar  gives  explicit  evidence; 
and  from  many  other  writers,  as  well  as  plentiful  sur- 
vival, we  know  what  extraordinary  efforts  were  made 
to  help  one  of  these  heavenly  bodies  when  it  came 
into  eclipse.  The  notion  was  common  to  Roman  and 
barbarian.  "  Vince  Luna !  "  was  the  cry,  and  all  man- 
ner of  noise  was  made  to  drive  away  the  monster  who 
was  thought  to  be  on  the  point  of  devouring  its  vic- 
tim.2  The  heading  of  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  the 
Indiculus^  to  which  we  have  so  often  alluded  and 
whose  loss  as  a  whole  is  to  be  so  heartily  deplored, 
runs :  "  De  lunse  defectione,  quod  dicunt  Vincelunay 
The  cult  of  clamor  and  terror  lasted  in  distorted  fash- 
ions into  the  seventeenth  century,  where  cases  are  on 
record  for  England  as  well  as  Germany .^ 

Direct  worship  of  sun  and  moon  is  found  among 
barbarous  tribes  of  the  present  day,  and  to  a  candid 
judgment  must  seem  to  have  been  one  of  the  most 
certain  and  clearly  primitive  inferences  of  the  human 
mind.  As  J.  Grimm  hints,*  people  with  any  begin- 
nings of  agriculture,  and  especially  those  living  in 
cold  or  temperate  climates,  would  have  a  definite  cult 


1  Myths,  however,  seem  plentiful.    See  Tylor,  P.  C.  I.  322  ff. 

2  The  well-known  classical  reference  is  Juvenal,  VI.  442.    See  also 
Tacitus,  Ann.  I.  28.  f' 

3  Tylor,  P.  C.  I.  333  f .  *  G.  D.  S.^  61. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


411 


of  the  sun.     The  univei-sal  doctrine  that  sunrise  is 
fatal  to  evil  spirits  of  every  sort,^  is  itself  ample  evi- 
dence of  this  cult.     Tylor  has  plentiful  material  for 
the  ceremonies  of  savage  tribes.^    Corresponding  to 
his  account  of  the  Samoyed  woman  who  bowed  morn- 
ing and  evening  to  the  sun,  we  have  the  interesting 
fact  that  in  the  Upper  Palatinate  people  doff  the  hat 
at  sunrise.3     The  same  thing  is  done  in  honor  of  the 
moon ;  while  the  peasant  of  that  region  is  fain  to  ask 
the  sun  to  come  and  take  away  the  "  seventy-seven 
fevers  "  with  which  he  is  afflicted.     So,  in  Lucian's 
time,  the  peasant  kissed  his  hand  "as  an  act  of  wor- 
ship to  the  rising  sun."*    In  a  note  to  his  Volkslieder,^ 
Uhland  gives  some  versus  which  show  in  quaint  con- 
fusion  a  mingling  of  Christian  and  heathen  ideas, 
with  definite  survival  of  element-worship : 

God  bless  thee,  moon  and  sun, 

And  likewise  leaf  and  grass.  .  .  . 

***** 

When  he  came  to  the  hilltop, 

He  looked  wide  around  : 

"  God  bless  thee,  sun  and  moon, 

And  all  my  loving  friends  1 " 

Naturally,  many  of  the  festal  fires  which  we  have 
noticed,  perhaps  those  of  Eastertide,  belong  to  the 
cult  of  the  sun.  Tylor  reminds  us  that  Aurelian  in- 
stituted about  the  time  of  our  Christmas  a  pa^an 
festival  for  "the  birthday  of  the  unconquered  sun."^ 

tJu^.^^'T  *'^'^'''''^  '^  *  *'^"  ^"  ^^°t  ^'^  ««^i«en  by  a  ray  of  the 
rismg  sun,  he  IS  turned  to  stone.    See  ^^mma7,  35.  ^^  «^  ^he 

^  Tylor  P  7  U  2qfi  I  '^""^''  Aber.lauh.  p.  12. 

of  onentatLn     S./t^'"'VTI?^  ^^  '""■""^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^  '^^  ^^^^^^ 
"1  uneniation.    bee  Tylor,  P.  C.  II.  296,  421  ff. 


412 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


li 


As  to  the  midsummer  festival,  which  occurs  at  the 
summer  solstice  and  was  called  by  the  Germans 
'^  sonnewende^''  we  may  safely  connect  the  fires  and 
wheels  with  some  phase  of  sun-cult.  The  further 
north  we  go,  the  more  obvious  this  relation ;  and  we 
are  told  how  after  their  long  night  the  inhabitants  of 
"  Thule  "  climbed  the  peaks  to  catch  the  first  glimpse 
of  the  sun,  and  then  fell  to  celebrating  their  most 
sacred  festival.^ 

Cult  of  the  moon  is  familiar  in  magic  and  witch- 
craft. Potent  is  the  time  of  eclipse,  and  our  Shaks- 
perian  almanac  advises  us  that  then  is  the  season  to 
get  in  our  slips  of  yew;  leave  root  of  hemlock  for 
a  moonless  night.  Manifold  superstitions  about  the 
moon  go  back  to  heathen  rites,  and  against  some  of 
these  the  church  made  successful  front.  "  No  Chris- 
tian man,"  says  Beda  in  one  of  his  treatises,^  "  shall 
do  anything  of  witchery  by  the  moon."  This  is  the 
rationalism  of  the  new  order ;  but  presently  inherited 
superstition  peeps  through,  for  he  tells  us  he  has  no 
doubt  whatever  that  trees  which  be  hewn  at  full 
moon  are  harder  against  worm-eating  and  longer  last- 
ing than  they  which  are  hewn  at  the  new  moon.^ 
Indeed,  the  moon  is  more  important  in  superstition 
than  the  sun ;  it  waxes  and  wanes,  and  in  its  setting 
of  night  offers  the  desirable  elements  of  mystery.  It 
is  the  most  ancient  timepiece,  and  we  have  seen  that 


1  D.  M.  601. 

2  De  Temporihus,  Anglo-Saxon  trans,  said  to  be  by  .^Ifric,  Cock- 
ayne, Leechdoms,  III.  232  ff. 

8  Ibid.  266,  268.  A  later  superstition  demanded  that  trees  should  be 
hewn  down  in  the  wane  of  the  moon.  D.  M.  596.  Cockayne  gives  a 
leechdom  which  is  to  be  taken  "  when  the  moon  is  on  the  wane." 
Leechdoms  I.  98, 100  (for  loss  of  appetite  and  for  lunacy) . 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


413 


Germanic  popular  government  appointed  its  assem- 
blies at  the  full  moon,i  and  waited  with  awe  upon 
the  omens  of  its  change .^  Peace,  of  course,  to  the 
countless  superstitions;  but  we  may  note  that  the 
Esthonian  greets  a  new  moon  with  the  words :  "  Hail, 
moon !  Mayst  thou  grow  old,  and  may  I  grow  young ! "  ^ 
It  is  an  interesting  parallel  when  Congo  folk  say:  "So 
may  I  renew  my  life  as  thou  art  renewed!"* 

The  stars  are  too  numerous  and  too  distant  for 
much  worship  ;  superstitions  like  that  of  the  peasant 
who  says  a  prayer  when  he  spies  a  falling  star,  may 
have  some  precedent  in  ceremonial  worship,  and  so 
may  the  advice  to  any  wife,  that  if  she  wishes  the 
hawks  to  keep  away  from  her  chickens,  she  must 
"  greet  the  stars  "  when  she  goes  to  bed.^ 

Prayers  to  day  and  night — palpable  conceptions, 
however  indefinite  and  vast  —  are  recorded  in  Ger- 
manic tradition,  although  it  is  myth  rather  than  cult 
which  has  claimed  these  provinces.  Day  is  sacred, 
holy ;  oaths  are  made  by  it ;  ^  and  the  same  is  true  of 
night.     In  the  Edda  they  are  both  invoked :  — 

Hail,  O  Day ! 
Hail,  Day's  sons ! 
Hail,  Night  and  Sister ! 
With  gracious  eyes  gaze  on  us, 
Give  us  victory !  ^ 

A  later  bit  from  the  German,  — 

God  greet  thee,  holy  Sunday ; 
I  see  thee  ride  this  way  1 

1  Tac.  Germ.  II.  2  Caesar  and  Plutarch,  as  quoted  above. 

8  D.  M.  595,  note.  4  p.  c.  II.  300. 

^D.M.  III. ;  Aberglaube,  595, 112. 
6  D.  M.  614  f.  7  sigrdr.  3. 


414 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


" 


if 


is  a  personification,  and  seems  perilously  near  a  mere 
poetic  figure,  though  quoted  from  a  form  of  blessing ;  ^ 
indeed,  it  is  but  ill-paying  trouble  to  collect  these 
doubtful  relics.  The  worship  of  day  is  not  a  very 
evident  inference  ;  leather  some  more  concrete,  com- 
pact and  direct  object  would  have  been  chosen, — 
like  the  sun. 

In  the  same  way  we  find  traces  of  season-cult, 
especially  of  spring  and  summer.  The  chief  trace  of 
this  cult,  faint  enough,  is  the  personification  of  the 
season  in  question,  on  which  we  must  be  careful  not 
to  lay  overmuch  stress.  That  "  May  stands  at  the 
door"  is  evidence  of  poetry  and  myth;  so  is  Shak- 
spere's  jubilant  tribute, 

—  jocund  day 
Stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain  tops ; 

or,  in  soberer  vein,  — 

The  morn,  in  russet  mantle  clad, 

Walks  o'er  the  dew  of  yon  high  eastern  hill. 2 

This  personification  is  common  with  the  seasons,  as 
in  the  old  English  lays  to  spring :  — 

Sumer  is  icumen  in,  — 
or  the  less  famous,  — 

Lenten  is  come  with  loue  to  toune.^ 

1  D.  M.  616. 

2  Another  pendant  is  Milton's  exquisite  picture :  — 

Gray -hooded  Even, 
Like  a  sad  votarist  in  palmer's  weed. 

8  Printed  in  Morris  and  Skeat's  Specimens  of  Early  English,  II.  48. 
It  dates  from  the  thirteenth  century.  The  same  phrase  is  used  in  the 
Menologium  or  Anglo-Saxon  Calendar,  where  heathen  forms  occur 
throughout ;  e.g.  \>ses  \>e  lencten  on  tun  geliden  hsefde,  werum  to  wicum. 
"Since  spring  (*Lent')  had  come  to  town,  to  the  dwellings  of  men." 


THE   WORSHIP  OF  NATURE 


415 


This  phrase,  that  spring  or  any  one  of  the  months, 
is  "  come  to  town  "  that  is,  "  come  to  the  country," 
occurs  constantly  in  our  old  literature;  and  it  is 
matched  by  an  expression  in  BSowulf^  where  "year" 
is  used  for  "  spring  "  :  — 

.  .  .  Winter  locked  floods 

in  icy  fetters,  till  fared  another 

year  to  the  house.  ...  1 

On  the  other  hand,  the  approach  of  winter  is  expressed 
with  great  power  in  an  often-quoted  Frisian  law :  "  Si 
ilia  tenebrosa  nebula  et  frigidissima  hiems  in  hortos  et 
in  sepes  descendity  ^  Winter  —  a  cruel  warrior,  giant, 
or  monster ;  summer  or  spring  —  a  jocund  youth  : 
between  these  must  be  strife,  and  here  indeed  we  find 
some  rites  which  are  doubly  interesting  since  they 
point  backward  to  Germanic  worship  and  forward  to 
Germanic  drama.^  A  ballad  printed  by  Uhland*  gives 
the  dialogue  of  such  a  contest  as  peasants  would  per- 
form it,  each  figure  clad  in  the  proper  symbolic  cos- 
tume ;  while  J.  Grimm  collects  a  number  of  parallel 
survivals.  A  heading  of  the  Indiculus  ^  may  refer  to 
this  as  a  heathen  custom  which  the  church  abolished 
as  worship  and  tolerated  as  amusement.  The  strife 
of  winter  and  summer  was  presented  in  old  England, 
and  the  merriment  of  May  Day,  with  its  pole  and 
boughs  and  dancings,  seems  to  have  some  connection 
with  the  old  cult  of  summer  and  spring.^ 

"Town,"  as  in  the  case  of  Chaucer's  "persone  of  a  town,'*  is  not  our 
word,  but  a  parish,  a  district,  as  it  is  still  used  in  New  England  for 
"township." 

1  B^ow.  1134.    The  alliteration  is  probably  old,  "  gear  in  geardas.*^ 

2  See  D.  M.  635.  s'ibid.  654. 
*  Volkslieder,  I.  23.    See  also  the  notes.  6  Cap.  27. 

«  D.  M.  649.    Grimm  sums  up  the  four  fashions  of  celebrating  this 
festival  which  still  survive  in  Europe.    See  also  657. 


i 


416 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


CHAPTER   XIV 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 


Germanic  gods  and  goddesses  —  Evidence  of  their  cult  —  The 
days  of  the  week  —  Woden  —  Thunor  —  Tins  —  Nerthus,  and  the 
Ingsevonic  group  —  Other  deities. 

The  rise  and  progress  of  a  Germanic  family,  from 
mere  communal  life  in  the  bounds  of  a  narrow  canton 
to  the  power  of  a  dynasty  and  the  range  of  a  king- 
dom, were  accompanied,  we  may  well  believe,  by  a 
corresponding  development  of  the  ancestral  spirits. 
Where  once  the  shade  of  the  dead  man  walked  pro- 
tecting and  helpful  about  the  limits  of  his  old  home, 
there  must  now  rule  a  gigantic  spirit,  fettered  to  no 
single  habitation,  but  throned  high  in  air  or  dwelling 
in  remote  and  inaccessible  places.  Meanwhile  the 
ancestral  idea  became  blurred ;  the  god  was  vaguely 
known  as  progenitor  of  the  race. 

Parallel  with  this  process  ran  a  sharpening  and 
clarifying  of  the  notions  about  natural  forces.  Curi- 
osity, advancing  further  upon  the  outer  world,  reduced 
its  conclusions  to  a  system  and  made  far  more  dis- 
tinct the  personality  which  had  been  so  vague  to  the 
earlier  inquirer.  Definite  biographies,  one  may  say, 
were  published  about  the  elemental  gods,  and  formed 
along  with  heroic   legend   the   staple   of  primitive 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 


417 


poetry.  What  adjustments  were  made  between 
ancestral  and  elemental  worship  it  is  difficult  to  say, 
though  it  is  clear  that  the  latter  would  be  more 
public,  the  former  more  of  a  household  and  peculiar 
duty.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  an  outline 
of  the  worship  paid  in  late  heathen  days  to  the  gods 
of  Germanic  tradition. 

Monotheism,  as  we  understand  it,  was  unknown 
to  the  Germans ;  but  they  had  the  usual  tendency 
towards  Henotheism,  the  worship  of  one  favorite  god. 
Such  in  early  Scandinavia  seems  to  have  been  the 
position  of  Thor.  Forms  like  ''^  got  unde  mir  willeko- 
men^^^  do  not  show  any  monotheistic  spirit;  they 
may  refer  to  the  household  deity,  the  Lar.  Certainly 
they  do  not  express  our  modern  notion  of  God.  As 
for  the  All-Father  of  Scandinavian  mythology,  we 
may  even  exclude  the  very  probable  Christian  influ- 
ence, and  still  find  ample  explanation  in  the  phrases 
of  ancestor-worship.  Ancestor-worship,  however,  had 
little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  actual  Germanic  gods, 
who  haunted  no  barrows,  were  cabined,  cribbed,  con- 
fined in  no  hut  or  village,  but 

As  broad  and  general  as  the  casing  air, 


housed  in  the  far-off  regions  of  the  north.  So  ran 
popular  belief ;  and  northward,  with  outstretched 
hands,  our  forefathers  turned,  when  they  engaged  in 
ceremonial  worship.  With  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  east  became  cardinal  point  of  prayer,  and 
the  north,  as  we  might  expect,  was  banned  as  unlucky 

1  D.  M.  13. 


418 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


and  a  place  of  devils.^    Who  were,  then,  the  dwellers 
of  that  cold  Germanic  Olympus  ? 

Some  definite  evidence  on  this  point  seems  to  meet 
us  in  the  names  given   to  our  days  of  the  week.2 
The  Germans  were  still  of  heathen  faith  when  they 
took  the  names  of  these  days  from  Rome  and  trans- 
lated them  into  terms  of  their  own  mythology.     The 
week  of  seven  days  is  naturally  given  by  the  changes 
of  the  moon,  its  so-called  "  quarters  " ;  but  we  seem 
to  have  traces  ^  of  a  week  made  up  of  five  days  only. 
Of  the   individual   days,   Sunday  and   Monday  are 
obvious  translations.     But  Tuesday,  dies  Martts,  is 
credibly  traced  to  the  Germanic  god  Tins.     Wednes- 
day, dies  Mercurii,  has  the  stamp  of  Woden  plain  to 
see ;  and  old  Thor,  our  Saxon  Thunor,  is  as  evident 
in  the  name  of  Thursday,*  dies  Jovis.     Frige  dceg  is 
good  Anglo-Saxon  for  the  dies  Veneris.^    Saturday  is 
Anglo-Saxon  Sceteres  dceg,  but  also  Sceternes  dceg,  evi- 
dent translation  of  dies  Saturni,     The  other  form  is 
not  so  easy  to  explain.     Scetere  means  a  seducer ;  and 
there  may  have  been  a  deity  with  that  by-name,  — 
Loki,  the    Scandinavian,  has   been   desperately  sug- 

1  R.  A.  808 ;  G.  D.  S.  681.  In  the  Haverford  College  Studies,  No.  1, 
On  the  Symbolic  Use  of  Black  and  White,"  I  have  collected  some  mate- 
rial on  this  subject.  It  is  very  significant  that  an  Anglo-Saxon  charm 
agamst  wens  conjures  the  evil  into  the  north  and  to  the  mountains 
{Haupt's  Z.  xxxi.  45  ff.,  printed  by  Professor  Zupitza);  and  a  Finnish 
charm  sends  the  pestilence  to  the  same  place.  In  old  judicial  forms  this 
dishke  of  the  north  is  evident:  criminals  were  hanged  on  a  northward 
tree.  In  the  Frere's  Tale  of  Chaucer  the  fiend  (in  disguise)  tells  that 
he  lives  '*in  the  north  contre."  Much  more  could  be  quoted  to  the 
same  effect. 

2  The  general  question  is  discussed,  D.  M.  101  ff.    See  also  C.  P.  B 
I.  427  f.    For  Frisia  see  Richthofen,  Fries.  Rechtsges.  II.  431  f. 

I  ^^^^-  *  Old  Frisian  Thunresdei. 

Confusion  of  Frigg  and  Freyja  meets  us  in  Norse  tradition.    B.  M. 
251. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 


419 


gested,  with  a  shy  look  at  Danish  Lordag  as  corrup- 
tion from  the  name  of  the  god,  —  though  this  seems 
unlikely.  Kemble  suggests  settere,  "one  who  ar- 
ranges or  orders";  but  the  analogy  with  Saturn  is 
after  all  so  near  as  to  save  us  much  guessing. 

Evidence  of  cult  lies,  further,  in  those  names  of 
places  which  have  their  origin  in  the  name  of  a  god. 
For  example,  the  strongest  presumption  in  favor  of  a 
god  Saetere  would  spring  from  such  cases  as  the  men- 
tion of  Sceteres  hyrig  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  document 
under  date  of  the   year  1062  ;i  and  in  Scandinavia 
the  popularity  of  Thor  and  his  worship  is  abundantly 
proved  by  similar  means.     Petersen  2  shows  that  the 
sturdy  old  god  entirely  distances  all  the  other  Scandi- 
navian deities,  and  even  in  Normandy  and  the  Danish 
parts  of  England,  the  name  of  Thor  has  left  its  mark. 
As  with  places,  so  with  persons  ;  and  here  again,  so  far 
as  Scandinavia  is  concerned,  we  find  Thor  overwhelm- 
ingly the  favorite,^  though  Odin  and  Freyr  are  not 
neglected.     It  was  customary  there  for  a  man  to  give 
his  son  to  the  service  of  the  god,  and  to  name  the 
former  from  the  latter.     We  have,  in  fact,  two  sorts 
of  names  derived  in  this  fashion  among  Scandinavians 
of  the  heathen  period.    In  the  first  instance  any  name 
might  be  combined  with  the  name  of  deity  in  general, 
such  as  the  Norse  Ass  or  Go^.    "Thus  King  Raum 
gave  his  son  Brand  to  the  gods,*  and  thereupon  called 
him  Godbrand."  ^     Or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  parent 

1  Kemble,  Cod.  Dip.  IV.  457.    There  is  a  plant  sattorla'Se,  "  the  com- 
mon crowfoot." 

2  Om  Nordhoernes  Gndedyrkelse  og  Gudetro  i  Hedenold,  p.  46  f. 
8  Ibid.  41,  and  also  Vigfusson,  Icelandic  Diet.  s.v.  pdrr. 

*  Probably  a  substitution-survival  of  the  hideous  old  rite  of  actual 
sacrifice  of  one's  children.  5  Petersen,  p.  39  f. 


420 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


ii 


chose  the  name  and  service  of  some  special  god ;  and 
here  again  we  find  old  Thor  by  far  the  most  honored 
among  all  Scandinavian  deities.  Such  a  name  was 
Thorgrim. 

The  chief  god  of  the  Germans  when  the  Roman 
came  in  contact  with  them,  seems  to  have  been  Woden.^ 
This  is  the  English  form  of  the  name,  although  some 
of  our  early  homilies,  evidently  under  Danish  in- 
fluence, call  him  Othon  or  Othin.  The  meaning 
of  the  name  is  not  certain ;  some  connect  it  with  the 
Old  English  "  wood,"  —  "  enraged,"  "  furious ; "  ^  some 
with  the  notion  of  "  wandering,"  with  evident  appli- 
cation to  the  Scandinavian  myths  which  tell  about 
Odin's  travels  and  disguises ;  and  others,  again,  see 
in  the  name  a  reflection  of  the  god's  intellectual 
qualities.^  Certain,  however,  is  the  fact  that  Woden 
is  the  wind-god,  the  deity  of  heaven  in  the  literal 
sense,  the  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air,  although 
he  is  not  the  original  ruler  of  Germanic  deities ;  he 
has  taken  the  place  of  an  older  heaven -god.  Tins,  and 
seems  to  have  got  the  latter's  wife  in  the  bargain. 
This,  however,  is  matter  for  mythology ;  let  us  turn 
to  the  cult. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  of  great  significance  that 
we  find  this  god  in  the  genealogy  of  Anglo-Saxon 
kings ;  he  is  ancestor  of  the  monarchs  of  Kent,  Essex, 
East  Anglia,  Mercia,  Deira,  Bernicia,  Wessex,  and  the 

1  The  old  Grerman  form  is  Wuotan,  or  among  the  Saxons,  Wodan ; 
the  Scandinavian  form  was  O^inn,  now  commonly  called  Odin ;  and  in 
oldest  English  men  said  Woden.  The  use  of  Odin  in  these  pages  indi- 
cates allusion  to  the  Scandinavian  god. 

2  "  Wodan,  id  est  furor."    Adam  of  Bremen. 

8  D.  M.  109.  There  has  been  considerable  discussion  in  the  journals 
about  this  etymological  problem.  Lippert  actually  suggests  Woden  =* 
wood,  timber,  —  "  the  one  in  the  Grove  I  "    Culturgeschichtet  p.  463. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 


421 


Lindesfaran.^     Beda  speaks  of  Hengest  and  Hoi-sa 
as  descendants  of  Woden. ^     Names  of  places  in  Eng- 
land and  elsewhere  bear  the  same  testimony,^  and  not 
only  places,  but  animals  and  plants  as  well.     The 
annalists  are  apt  to  take  Woden  as  a  king  who  after- 
wards was  deified :  "  Woden,"  says  one,  "  whom  the 
Angles  worship  as  chief  god,  and  from  whom  they  de- 
rive their  origin,  was  a  mortal  man,  and  king  of  the 
Saxons,  and  father  of  many  races."*     The  explana- 
tion of  this  supremacy  of  Woden  in  the  later  heathen 
times  lies  in  his  double  attribute  of  intellectual  skill  ^ 
—  he  is  said  to  have  "invented  "  runes  —  and  love  of 
war.     Hence  the  fitness  of  his  place  as  begetter  of 
kings,  and  hence  the   later  tendency  to  exalt  him 
above  all  the  gods.     The  constant  warfare  of  these 
times  made    Othinus  armipotens^  easily  the  central 
figure.     Here,  too,  he  seems  to  have  taken  the  place 
of   Tins,  the  older  "  Mars."     To  Odin  the  Scandi- 
navians ascribed  the  invention  of  their  mode  of  attack 
in   battle,   the   wedge-shaped   column,  really  of   far 
greater  antiquity  than  Germanic  warriors  ever  knew, 
and  known  to  these  Norsemen  as  the  Boar's  Head. 
Moreover,  Odin  was  father  of  war  itself;  when  he 
threw  his  spear,  battle  was  born  in  the  world.^     The 

1  D.  M.  III.  377. 

^  Hist.  Ecc.  I.  15.  "Erant  autem  filii  Victgilsi,  cuius  pater  Vitta, 
cuius  pater  Vecta,  cuius  pater  Voden,  de  cuius  stirpe  multarum  prouin- 
ciarum  regium  genus  originem  ducit." 

8  D.  M.  126  f.,  131  f. ;  Grimm,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  58  ff.  Names  of  places 
compounded  with  names  of  this  god  are  comparatively  rare  in  Scandi- 
navia, where  Thor  is  overwhelmingly  the  favorite.   See  Petersen,  p.  43  f . 

*  Vita  S.  Kejitigerni,  quoted  by  Holtzmann,  Germ.  Alt.  p.  251. 

s  In  Roman  interpretation  he  is  called  Mercurius ;  and  in  Sal.  and 
Sat.  the  question  "  Wlio  invented  letters?  "  is  answered,  "  Mercury  the 
Giant."    See  also  D.  M.  120. 

6  So  Saxo  calls  him.  7  V<iluspa,  ed.  Hildebrand,  28. 


\i 


t^.^   •o^^mmmm 


422 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


I     !     ' 


spear  was  his  peculiar  weapon,  and  was  still  the  chief 
arm   of   Germanic  soldiers  in  the   time   of  Tacitus. 
Scandinavian  cult,  in  spite  of  Viking  fashions  which 
set  so  mightily  toward  the  god  of  wisdom  and  war- 
fare, clung  grimly  to  old  Thor ;  but  it  bowed  enough 
to  new  ways  to  change  several  of  its  great  festivals 
and  in  them  to  honor  Odin,  giver  of  victory,  as  well 
as  Thor,  the  protector  of  house  and  home.     Such  a 
feast  in  honor  of  Odin  was  held  about  the  beginning 
of  summer,  when  the  campaign  opened,  and  ways 
whether  of  land  or  of  sea,  became  easy  of  passage.^ 
We  may  suppose  this  habit  to  have  been  Germanic 
as  well  as  Scandinavian.     Paul  the  Deacon's  famous 
story  shows  two  rival  tribes  asking  "Wodan"  for 
victory.     Of  course  each  army  promised  sacrifice  — 
its  slain  enemies  —  in  return  for  such  a  gift ;  and  we 
find  in  the  Norse  sagas  this  or  that  hero  hurling  his 
spear  over  the  heads  of  the  hostile  band,  and  crying : 
"  Odin  have  you  all !  "     The  wolf  is  Woden's  beast, 
and  the  raven  is  his  bird;  the  latter  is  also  a  sign  of 
victory,  not  at  all  the  thing  of  evil  it  became  in  later 
times.     Even  as  a  commonplace  of  diction  the  raven 
has  joyous  meaning,  as  in  the  lines  of  BSowulf:  — 

Till  the  swarthy  raven  splendors  of  heaven, 
blithe-heart,  boded.^ 

Another  feature  of  his  cult  which  connects  Odin 
or  Woden  with  the  new  Germanic  period,  is  the  fact 
that  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  protector  of  the  mer- 
chant and  sailor  ;  ^  he  aided  the  bargaining  of  the 
former,  and  to  the  latter  he  gave  a  favorable  wind.* 

1  Petersen,  p.  88.     2  igoi  f .     »  See  material  in  Muller's  System,  p.  187. 
4  Grimm's  god  "  Wish  "  is  now  generally  rejected.    It  was  a  person- 
ification in  mediseval  poetry. 


THE  AVORSHIP  OF  GODS 


423 


Moreover,  since  he  was  the  god  that  sent  forth  pesti- 
lence and  disease,  heathen  logic  inferred  that  he  could 
best  rescue  from  these  ills ;  as  the  Scandinavian  cried, 
in  moments  of  sudden  danger,  "Help  me,  Odin!" 
so  in  the  time  of  sickness.  Luckily  we  have  a 
genuine  relic  of  the  old  Woden  cult,  an  incantation 
preserved  in  widely  sundered  dialects,  and  of  un- 
doubted Germanic  origin.  It  is  the  companion  charm 
to  that  which  invoked  the  Valkyrias,^  and  was  found 
with  it  in  the  library  at  IMerseburg :  2  — 

Phol  and  Wodan  fared  to  the  holt : 

then  Balder's  foal's  foot  was  wrenched. 

Then  Sinthgunt »  besang  it  and  Sunna  her  sister ; 

then  Fria  besang  it  and  VoUa  her  sister : 

then  Wodan  besang  it,  who  well  knew  how, 

the  wrenching  of  bone,  the  wrenching  of  blood,^ 

the  wrenching  of  limb : 

bone  to  bone,  blood  to  blood, 

limb  to  limb,  as  if  they  were  limed !  ^ 

Even  if  we  admit  Bugge's  theories,  and  let  Phol 
mean  the  apostle  Paul,  and  Balder  mean  "  the  Lord," 
we  have  nevertheless  plenty  of  heathendom  left. 
Woden  is  undoubtedly  central  figure ;  and  whatever 
elements  have  been  introduced  from  Christian  sources, 
they  have  been  obviously  substituted  for  the  older 
heathen  fashion.^  What  makes  this  charm  of  su- 
preme importance  is  the  great  number  of  varia- 
tions found  in  the  different  Germanic  countries. 
It  appears  in   Norway  and  Sweden,  in   Scotland,  in 

I  S^®  a^ove,  p.  376.  2  MS.  of  the  tenth  century. 

Sinhtgunt,  says  Bugge,  Studier,  p.  207.    *  I.e.  of  veins.    Bugge. 
5  Glued  together. 

«  Bugge  suggests  "Frija  and  Wodan,"  p.  307  of  the  German  trans 
of  the  Studier. 


-1     111" 


424 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


Flanders,  and  elsewhere.^  As  Scherer  says,  Woden  is 
"  supreme  physician,"  —  and  here  is  need  of  the  best. 
Still  another  charm,  this  time  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  shows  us  Woden  as  final  appeal  in  a  some- 
what similar  emergency.  In  the  charm  of  Nine 
Worts  to  be  used  against  poisons,^  we  have  a  list  of 
the  virtuous  herbs,  with  one  or  two  probable  heathen 
references.     Then  follows :  — 

These  nine  are  opposed  to  poisons  nine. 
Sneaking  came  snake,  tore  asunder  a  man. 
Then  took  Woden  nine  Wonder-Twigs : 
he  smote  the  Nadder,^  in  nine  [pieces]  it  flew.  .  .  . 

Thus  Woden,  in  this  place,  performs  an  act  of  sor- 
cery;  and  the  twigs  are  in  direct  accord  with  the 
Germanic  method  of  casting  lots  described  by  Taci- 
tus.*     These   charms   are   of  great  interest.     Less 
important,  however,  though  not  without  bearing  on 
our   subject,  are    the  many  customs    of   peasant-life 
which  seem  to  point  back   to   an  older  worship  of 
Woden.     In  some  of  the  German  cornfields  it  was 
the  habit  at  harvest-time  to  leave  a  heap  of  corn  "  for 
Woden's   horse."      A  writer   living   in   Rostock   in 
1593  describes  the  custom  of  Mecklenburg  at  rye- 
harvest,  when  they  gave  grain  to  the  god,  with  the 
rhyme:  — 

Wode,  give  thy  horse  fodder. 
Now  thistle  and  thorn. 
Next  year,  better  corn  !  ^ 

1  See  D.  M.  1030  ff. ;  Bugge,  Studier  (Germ,  trans.),  301  ff. ;  Roch- 
holz,  Deutscher  Glaube,  I.  281. 

2  Wulker-Grein,  Bihliothek,  I.  320  ff . ;  Cockayne,  III.  30  ff. 

8  Adder.  *  Germ.  X.    See  below,  p.  467. 

&D.  M.  128  f.    Grimm  gives  a  number  of  parallel  cases.    See  also 
Mannhardt's  Feldculte ;  Pfannenschmidt,  p.  107  ff. 


^4MiV 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


425 


Trees  were  sacred  to  him,  and  in  his  grove  offerings 
were  made   of  captives,  criminals,   or   even   beasts. 
His  worship  was  widespread  and  deeply  rooted ;  when 
the  heathen,  by  a  specified  oath,  renounced  their  old 
faith  and  joined  the  church,  they  were  compelled  to 
name  Woden  as  one  of  the  devils  and  monsters.^*  In 
Scandinavia  he  seems  to  have  received,  in  Viking 
days,  supreme  honors ;  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
Thor  was  the  real  god  of  the  Northmen.     Still,  in 
the  famous  temple  at  Upsala  in  Sweden,  described  by 
Adam  of  Bremen,  Odin  was  represented  by  an  image 
"  like  to  Mai-s,"  —  that  is  to  say,  fully  armed.2     He  it 
was  who  received  the  soul  of  the  warrior  in  the  new- 
fashioned  heaven  of  Viking  Scandinavia,  Valhalla; 
and  to  him  the  men  of  war  every  where  —  and  war 
was  everywhere  —  put  up  their  prayers  and  in  stress 
of  battle  offered  service,  child,  or  proper  life.      By 
the  Literpretatio  Romana  he  was  called  Mercury. 

To  Thunor,  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  called  him,  the 
Thor  of  the  Scandinavian  peasant,  there  must  have 
belonged  a  widespread  Germanic  cult.  Especially 
was  this  the  case  among  the  Norsemen,  where,  as 
Petersen's  book  shows  beyond  doubt,  Thor  "the 
land-god"  was  worshipped  above  all  other  deities. 
He  was  called  Jupiter  by  the  Romans,  and  that  not 
solely,  we  may  imagine,  on  account  of  his  thunder- 
bolts.   It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  the  aermania? 

^^    1  Renunciation  used  under  Boniface  by  Saxons  and  Thuringians  • 
Ec  forsacho  allum  diaboles  wercum  and  wordum,  Thunaer  ende  Wo- 
den ende  Saxnote  ende  allum  them  unholdum  the  hira  genotas  sint." 
I  forsake  all  devil's  works  and  words,  and  Thuner  and  Woden  and 
baxnot  and  all  the  monsters  who  are  their  companions." 
2  "  Wodanem  armatum  sculpunt."    Adam  Br.  IV.  26. 
^  Cap.  IX.    See  also  Zeuss,  die  Deutschen,  p.  25. 


426 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


427 


Tacitus  calls  him  Hercules ;  for  Mullenhoff  reminds 
us  that  with  the  Romans  Hercules  was  not  only  a 
hero,  but  also  a  god.     Additional  testimony  to  Thor's 
or  Thunor's  importance  is  the  fact  that  the  arch-fiend 
of  Christian  times,  the  devil  himself,  takes  the  place 
of  the  old  thunder-god.i     In  Scandinavia  men  made 
most  solemn  oaths  in  calling  upon  Thor,  and  they 
celebrated  his  feast  at  the  sacred  time  of  Yule.^     As 
god  of  the  home  and  all  that  belongs  to  it,  he  was 
worshipped  first  and  foremost  of  the  deities  ;  and  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  rough  satire  of  the  Harbards 
Lay,  where  Odin  boasts   of   his  own  amorous   and 
warlike  feats,  mocks  Thor  for  his  homely  ways,  and 
generally  plays  the  miles  gloriosus,  was  not  meant  for 
the  eai-s  of  peasants.     They  prayed  to  him  for  a  mild 
winter,  an  early  spring,  and  generous  crops ;  his  first 
thunderings  heralded  return  of  warmth  and  vegeta- 
tion.3     As  late  as  the  eighteenth  century  a  Scandi- 
navian woman  was  known  to  pray  regularly  to  Thor  ;^ 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon  homilies  bear  witness  to  the 
stubbornness  of  Thunor's  cult  on  English  soil. 

Thor's  thunder,  audible  sign  that  he  and  his  ham- 
mer were  fighting  ice-giants  and  obstinate  spirits  of 
the  northern  hills,  was  regarded  as  more  a  benefit 
than  a  terror.  It  symbolized  fertility ;  and  we  find 
several  plants  named  after  the  thunder.^  The  wood 
of  a  tree  which  had  been  struck  by  lightning  was 
good  for  many  purposes,  and  toothpicks  made  of  it 

1  D.  M.  151,  and  Chap.  XXXIII.  throughout.    See  also  Roskoff,  Ge- 
schichte  des  Teufels.     In  favorable  matters  he  is  represented  hy  Ehas. 

2  Pfttersen  n.  63. 

8  Unowned  or  lordless  land  was  given  to  Thor.    Grimm,  Kl.  Schr, 

II.  56  ff . 

4  Holtzmann's  D.  M.  67.  ^  i>-  ^^'  1^2  i. 


are  still  thought  to  cure  the  toothache.^     Any  man 
who  was  smitten  by  the  bolt  was  regarded  as  particu- 
larly happy  in  his  taking-off.^     Of  trees,  the  oak  was 
dedicated  to  the  thunder-god,  —  a  bold  and  not  igno- 
ble piece  of  religious  invention.     His  day  was  Thurs- 
day, still  in  every  regard  a  lucky  day ;  in  Scandinavia 
the  traditional  day  for  a  wedding,  and  of  good  right, 
if  we  consider  that  it  was    Thor's   hammer   which 
"  hallowed  "  every  bride.3     The  public  assembly  was 
held  in  most  Scandinavian  districts  on  the  Thursday; 
and  we  must  remember  the  hammer-cast  which  marked 
out  the  borders  of  a  judicial  court,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  Thor  was  the  patron  and  god  of  such  an  assem- 
bly.    Most  significant  is  the  vast  number  of  Scandi- 
navian names  which  are  compounded  with  the  name 
of  Thor ;    places  —  where  we  may  compare  the  Ger- 
man Donnersberg— and  people  abound  in  proof  of 
this  favorite  patron;    while  but  few  can  be  found 
which  bear  the  stamp  of  other  gods  or  goddesses.* 
Indeed,  some  of   the  names  are  directly  associated 
with  the  processes  of  cult;   Thorkell,  for  example, 
from  Thorketill,  and  probably  Thurston  from  Thor's 
stone.s      Not  only  these  names ;  the  kennings  which 
express  the  god  himself,  are  full  of  significance  for 
his  worship.^ 

Almost  alone  of  Scandinavian  gods,  Thor  found  last- 
ing representation  in  a  rude  picture  carved  on  stock 
and  stone,'  even  on  ships,^  — "  a  long-bearded  face. 


1  Wuttke,  Aherglauhen,  p.  93. 
*  Petersen,  p.  70  f . 
^  D.  M.  155  ff. 

7  Petersen,  p.  33  f . 

8  Ibid.  84.    It  is  probable  he  was  once  god  of  battles. 


2  D.  M.  145. 

^  Petersen,  p,  41  f . 

«  C.  P.  B.  II.  ^A  t. 


^ 


.■■    iiwun         ■» 


428 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


with  the  hammer  hung  beneath  " ;  ^  while  his  actual 
image  was  adorned  with  gold  and  silver,  and  set  up 
in  the  holy  places.  Runes,  moreover,  add  their  testi- 
mony to  the  universal  nature  of  Thor's  cult  in  Scan- 
dinavia.2  Even  the  vanity  of  our  Germanic  ancestors 
took  a  religious  bent,  or  more  correctly  went  hand  in 
hand  with  superstition,  inasmuch  as  their  ornaments 
were  often  made  in  the  shape  of  Thor's  famous  ham- 
mer. Some  of  these  ornaments  are  of  striking 
beauty ,3  and  were  meant  to  hang  as  charms  or  amulets 
about  the  neck ;  for  to  Thor  men  prayed  in  times  of 
sudden  danger,  as  well  as  in  sickness  and  want.*  He 
was  chief  guardian  of  the  home  ;  and  on  the  posts  of 
the  high-seat,  where  sat  the  master  of  the  Norse 
household,  was  carved  the  face  of  Thor.  Viking 
belief  assigned  the  souls  of  dead  warriors  to  Odin, 
while  "Thor  has  the  thralls  ";  — yet  not  as  god  of 
the  thralls  did  he  take  them,  but  rather  because  the 
servants  were  part  and  parcel  of  the  household.^ 

The  god  whose  old  Germanic  and  Gothic  name 
must  have  been  Tius,  Old  High  German  Zio,  Scandi- 
navian Tyr,  but  in  English  was  known  as  Tiw,  was 
once  worshipped  as  the  heaven-god,  but  seems  to  have 
been  the  war-god  as  well.  A  gloss  of  the  Epinal 
MS,,  which  goes  back  to  the  seventh  century,  a  most 
venerable  witness,  makes  Tiig  the  same  as  M'ars.^ 

1  C.  p.  B.  II.  464.  2  Petersen,  p.  51  ff.  ^  Ibid.  p.  75. 

4  Ibid.  56;  and  Adam  of  Bremen  says  of  the  Thor  image  at  Upsala: 
"  Si  pestis  et  famis  imminet  Thor  ydolo  lybatur." 

6  Ibid.  62.  A  mass  of  information  about  Thor  may  be  found  not 
only  in  Petersen's  work,  but  in  the  brilliant  piece  of  investigation  by 
Uhland,  Der  Mijthus  von  Thor.  AVhile  the  bulk  of  the  book  is  taken 
up  with  theories  about  the  "  meanings  "  of  myths,  there  is  much  sohd 
material.  «  The  y  in  this  form  shows  it  to  be  of  Mercian  origm. 


THE   WORSHIP   OF   GODS 


429 


As  with  the  other  gods,  places  were  named  after 
him;i  and  songs  of  battle  were  chanted  in  his  honor .2 
It  is  supposed  that  he  was  the  deity  worshipped  in 
the  grove  of  the  Semnones  ^  with  such  strenuous  rites. 
Tacitus  tells  us  that  human  sacrifices  were  offered  to 
Mercury  and  Mars,  — that  is,  to  Woden  and  to  Tius; 
and  similar  offerings  to  a  war-god  are  related  by 
the  historian  Procopius.^  The  sword-dance  described 
above  ^  was  doubtless  in  honor  of  this  god,  and  Grimm 
connects  with  him  the  worship  of  swords  recorded  by 
old  historians.6  At  the  time  of  Tacitus  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  central  and  northern  Germany,  Tius 
seems  to  have  held  the  place  taken  in  later  times  by 
Woden.  His  day,  Tuesday,  has  a  few  superstitions 
connected  with  it  which  point  to  older  cult;  for 
instance,  it  must  be  on  the  Tuesday  that  the  plant  is 
gathered  which  warriors  use  for  crown." 

In  Scandinavian  cult  we  find  not  only  a  Tyr,  but 
a  god  who  is  really  a  "hypostasis"  of  Tyr  or  Tius, — 
Heimdall,  "the  world-glad."  Rams  were  sacrificed 
to  him.  Another  hypostasis  of  Tius,  and  more  inter- 
esting to  us,  is  Saxndat  or  Saxn6t,  "  the  sword-com- 
panion "  or  brother  in  arms,^  who  figures  alx)ve  as 
one  of  the  gods  to  be  abjured  in  the  Old  German 
renunciation,  and  is  undoubtedly  Tius  under  another 
name.^      Saxneat   plays    an   important   part   in    the 

1  D.  M.  164  ff.  2  Ibid.  171. 

8  See  below,  p.  441,  and  Tac.  Germ.  XXXIX. ;  Ann.  IV.  64. 

*  Gesch.  d.  d.  Vorzeit,  Procop.  p.  124.        5  Above,  p.  108. 

6  D.  M.  169;  Simrock,  Mythol.  272  f.         7  Grimm,  G.  D.  8.^  88. 

8  Zeuss,  p.  25 ;  W.  Miiller,  System,  p.  22G  f. 

»  These  names  indicate  various  phases  of  warfare,  as  Miillenhoff 
notes  in  his  important  paper  in  Schmidt's  Zeitschrift  f.  Geschichte, 
Vol.  VIII. 


430 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


431 


Anglo-Saxon  genealogies,  —  for  example  in  the  royal 
ancestry  of  Wessex. 

Two  inscriptions  which  Scherer  laid  in  1884  before 
the  Berlin  Academy,  would  seem  to  show  that  Tins 
even  acted  as  guardian  and  god  of  the  popular  legal 
assembly.  He  appears  as  ''Mars  Thingsus,"  thing 
being  the  Germanic  term,  still  used  in  Scandinavian 
tongues,  for  a  legislative  body.  The  inscriptions 
were  found  in  1883  on  two  large  votive  altars  near 
the  old  Hadrian's  wall  in  Great  Britain,  at  a  place 
called  Housesteads;  they  show  that  the  altars  were 
erected  by  a  division  of  Frisian  cavalry  serving  as 
part  of  the  imperial  army  under  Alexander  Severus 
(222-235),  and  for  some  special  aid  or  favor  were 
dedicated  to  Germanic  deities,  —  Mars  Thingsus  and 
the  so-called  ^Zama^a^,  Bede  and  Fimmilene,  —  as 
well  as  to  the  Roman  imperial  family.  F.  Kauffmann^ 
asserts  that  Mars  Thingsus,  while  undoubtedly  Tins, 
is  not  addressed  as  a  god  of  popular  assemblies,  but 
as  the  patron  deity  of  that  battalion  or  division ;  for 
the  Germanic  army  was  arranged  by  clans,  and  the 
name  of  a  tribal  assembly  could  be  transferred  to  a 
military  brigade.  However  that  may  be,  here  is  Tins 
worshipped  by  very  near  relatives  of  our  own  ances- 
tors, whether  or  not  as  god  of  the  popular  gathering. 
We  may  remember  that  these  meetings  were  under 
the  special  protection  of  a  god,  and  hence  were  always 
controlled  by  the  priests,  who  alone  had  power  to 
command  silence  and  to  punish  offenders.^ 

Another  god  is  called  in  Scandinavian  myths 
Freyr.  He  is  interesting  to  us  as  the  probable  god 
whose  worship  was  most  popular  among  our  coast- 


1  p.  B.  Beitrafje,  XIV.  200  ff. 


2  Tac.  Germ.  XI. 


dwelling  ancestors  by  the  German  Ocean.     In  the 
opinion  of  certain  scholars,  Freyr  and  Beowulf,  the 
hero  of  our  old  epic,  are  one  and  the  same  god,  and 
with  Scandinavian  Freyja  and  Niorthr  represented  a 
brother  and  a  sister  who  were  worshipped  by  the 
Inggevonic  race  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Tacitus. 
The  female  was  then  known,  in  Roman  translitera- 
tion, as  Nerthus,!  and  her  cult  is  described  by  the 
historian.      In    this    worship   were   bound    together 
Reudigni,  Aviones,  Anglii,  Varini,  Eudoses,^  Suar- 
dones,  Nuithones,  —  all  of  them  tribes  which  lived  in 
Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  about  Elbe  mouth.     Ner- 
thus,  explains  Tacitus,^  is  Mother  Earth,  and  these 
people  "  believe  that  she  enters  into  human  affairs, 
and  travels  about  among  the  people.     In  an  island  of 
the  ocean  there  is  a  sacred  grove,  and  in  it  a  holy 
chariot  covered  with   a   cloth.     Only  the   priest   is 
allowed  to  touch  it.     He  knows  when  the  goddess  is 
present  in  her  consecrated  place,  and  in  all  reverence 
accompanies  her  as  she  is   drawn   about   by  cows. 
These  are  joyful  times  and  places  which  the  goddess 
honors  with  her  presence,  and  her  visit  makes  holiday. 
People  begin  no  war,  do  not  take  up  arms,  all  weap- 
ons are  put  away;   peace   and  quiet  only  are  then 
known  and  welcome,  until  the  priest  leads  back  to 
her  holy  place  the  goddess,  now  wearied  of  mortal 
fellowship.     Then  the   wagon,   the   covering-cloths, 
and,  —  if  one  cares  to  believe  it,  —  the  divinity  her- 
self, are  washed  in  a  hidden  lake.     These  services  are 
performed  by  slaves  whom  the  same  lake  presently 

1  She  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Edda. 

2  Supposed  to  be  the  ancestors  of  our  Jutes.    See  also  Miiller  in 
P.  B.  Beitrdge,  VII.  605  f.  s  Germ.  XL. 


p 


432 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  GODS 


433 


swallows  up.     Hence  spring  the  secret  terror  and  the 
sacred  ignorance  about  something  which  is  seen  by 
those  alone  who  are  doomed  to  immediate  death." 
This  is  the  oldest  detailed  account  of  Germanic  wor- 
ship, and  its  subject  is  a  goddess  of  peace  and  plenty, 
who  makes  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  trade, 
and  the  arts  of  civilization.     In  Scandinavia,  centu>. 
ries  later,  we  find  a  god  Niorthr  who  loves  the  water, 
and  especially  the  swan's  song,  and  is  worshipped  by 
seafaring  folk  as  the  protector  of  traders  and  trades. 
The  fact  that  our  old  Germanic  goddess  was  wor- 
shipped in  a  season  of  general  peace  points  to  mer- 
cantile opportunities ;  and  the  meeting  of  the  related 
tribes  under  such  a  sanction  was  doubtless  the  occa- 
sion of  barter  and  tmde,  —  like  the  Easter  or  Michael- 
mas messe  of  mediaeval  Germany.     That  trade  was  an 
object  of  these  meetings  is  proved  by  the  account  of 
the  Suiones  in  Tacitus,^  by  the  religious  gatherings 
at  Upsala  in  Sweden  described  by  the  later  historian, 
and  by  the  story  of  places  like  Lethra  in  Denmark, 
and  Throndhjem  in  Norway,  where   trade  and  cult 
went  together  hand  in  hand.     Hence  the  gods  of 
traffic,  agriculture,  peace.     The  cult  of  Nerthus,  says 
Miillenhoff,2  arose  in  commerce  with  foreign  sailoi-s 
and  tradesmen,  and  naturally  was  full  of  associations 
with  the  sea.     A  few  vague  allusions  and  survivals, 
such  as  the  ship  drawn  by  German  weavers  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Cologne,  or  the  mention  of  a  ship 
in  connection  with  the  worship  of  "  Isis  "  —  the  Inter- 
pretatio  Eomana  again  —  may  help  to  strengthen  our 
notion  of  this  old  cult.^ 

1  Germ.  XLIV.  «  Haupt  Z.  iV.  F.  XL  11  f. 

8  D.  M.  214  ff. ;  Germ.  IX. ;  Simrock,  Mythol.  p.  369  f. 


The  name  of  Nejthus,  which  suggests  a  Celtic 
word  meaning  "strength,"  is  evidently  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  later  Scandinavian  Niorthr,  who  in 
the  Edda  is  father  of  Freyr:  they  were  originally  one 
and  the  same  person.  Corresponding  to  Freyr  and 
Freyja  in  the  Norse  system,  scholars  have  assumed 
a  Niorthr  and  Nerthus,  the  same  pair  under  other 
names.  In  Sweden,  Freyr  was  a  very  prominent 
god,  and  his  image  stood  beside  the  images  of  Thor 
and  Odin.  Freyr,  like  the  older  Nerthus,  had  a 
chariot  which  was  drawn  about  the  countryside  every 
spring,  while  the  glad  people  worshipped  and  made 
holiday.  In  the  chariot  was  a  young  and  beautiful 
priestess,  answering  to  the  priest  who  went  about 
with  the  wagon  of  Nerthus.^  Here,  too,  was  a  time 
of  peace ;  and  Freyr  was  asked  to  give  rain  and  sun- 
shine, fertile  soil,  and  a  prosperous  year.^  He  pre- 
sided over  marriages ;  and  Adam  of  Bremen  speaks 
of  his  image  as  a  god  of  fecundity.  The  boar  was 
sacred  to  him,  and  was  not  only  sacrificed  to  him, 
but  is  said  to  have  drawn  his  wagon ;  while  even  in 
recent  times,  Swedish  folk  were  wont  to  bake  cakes 
in  the  shape  of  a  boar,  remnant  of  the  old  Freyr- 
offering.3  Curiously  enough,  in  the  account  of  the 
^stii,  whom  he  evidently  takes  to  be  Germanic,* 
Tacitus  says  they  worship  a  Mater  Deum  and  wear 
figures  of  the  boar.^  These  were  probably  made  not 
of  metal,  but  of  wood,  or  of  an  even  softer  material. 
As  the  military  spirit  waxed  with  conquest,  the  peace- 

1  D.  M.  208.  2  Ibid.  176. 

*  Ibid.  41.  4  MuUenhoflP,  D.  A.  II.  29. 

6  The  wagon  is  a  conspicuous  thing  in  the  cult  of  the  Phrygian 
magna  deum  mater.    Lucret.  de  rer.  nat.  II.  597  ff.,«and  D.  M.  211. 


434 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


435 


II  ii 


ful  emblem  served  as  warlike  decoration;  Anglo- 
Saxon  warriors  wore  the  boar  upon  their  helmets; 
and  the  boar's  head,  on  which  Scandinavian  warriors 
took  oath,  is  known  in  the  Christmas  feasts  of  Eng- 
land. Oxen,  too,  we  find  used  for  this  sacrificial 
purpose,  and  hear  of  them  occasionally  under  the 
poetical  name  of  Freyr.^  Horses,  too,  were  sacrificed 
to  this  god ;  and  in  Sweden  on  solemn  occasions  the 
slave,  the  captive,  or  even  the  citizen,  was  offered  as 
a  last  resort. 

Petersen  gives  a  few  Scandinavian  proper  names, 
which  were  compounded  with  the  name  of  Freyr.^ 
This,  itself,  means  simply  "prince,"  "lord,"  "master," 
and  is  familiar  to  us  in  its  feminine  form,  as  the  Ger- 
man "Frau."  Freyr  and  Freyja  are  simply  "the 
lord  "  and  "  the  lady  "  ;  they  could  appear  under  dif- 
ferent names,  as  in  Anglo-Saxon  the  god  Ing,  men- 
tioned by  a  poem  known  as  the  "Rune  Lay,"  and 
evidently  the  ancestral  god  of  the  Ingsevonic  race,  is 
undoubtedly  none  other  than  Freyr.^  Significant  in 
this  reference  of  the  Rune  Lay  is  the  mention  of  Ing's 
chariot,  which,  as  Miillenhoff  remarks,  is  assigned  only 
to  the  highest  gods :  — 

Ing  was  erst  with  Eastern  Danes 

seen  on  earth,  but  eastward  since 

o'er  the  wave  he  went ;  his  wain  ran  after. 

Thus  did  Hardin gs  the  hero  call. 

Ing  is  further  mentioned  in  our  Anglo-Saxon  gene- 
alogies ;  ^  and  in  BSowulf  we  have  the  frSa  Ingwina^ 
"lord  of  the  Ingwine."  Beowulf  himself,  as  has 
been   said   above,  is   assumed   by  many  as   another 

1  D,  M.  176, 179.    For  other  survivals  of  the  cult,  see  D.  M.  III.  7G  f. 

2  Gud.  p.  42  f .  8  Bugge,  Studier,  p.  2.  ■*  D.  M.  III.  384  f- 


phase  of  the  same  deity .^  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  cult  of  this  divinity  or  group  of  divinities,  cen- 
tred near  the  North  Sea,  and  attested  from  earliest 
times,  is  for  us  the  most  interesting  fragment  in  all 
Germanic  mythology;  it  is  an  authentic,  even  if 
blurred  and  rapid  glimpse,  at  the  religion  of  our 
own  fore  fathers  .2 

Let  us  now  look  for  a  moment  at  the  Scandinavian 
Freyja,  the  later  reffl^sentative  of  Nerthus.  Unfor- 
tunately, she  has  been  confused  with  Frigg  (this  is 
the  Norse  form,  as  is  also  Freyja),  the  wife  of  Odin. 
Thus  in  Anglo-Saxon  genealogies,  we  have  "  Frea  " 
set  down  as  Woden's  wife,  whereas  the  proper  name 
in  Anglo-Saxon  would  be  Fricg.^  In  all  Norse  cult, 
Freyja  is  abundantly  worshipped,  and  in  close  rela- 
tion to  the  cult  of  Freyr.  She  gave  men  fertility, 
peace,  and  happy  wedlock.  Boar  and  ox  were  sacri- 
ficed to  her ;  *  she  has,  like  Nerthus,  the  chariot  of 
highest  divinity.  Connection  with  ancestor-worship 
is  found  in  the  widespread  belief  that  a  woman  fared 
directly  to  her  after  death;  in  Christian  times,  the 
legend  ran  that  souls  spent  their  first  night  after 
death  with  her  successor,  St.  Gertrude,  the  second 
with  the  archangels,  but  on  the  third  went  as  their 
doom  directed.^  The  cat  was  sacred  to  her  ;  a  happy 
recognition  of  her  manifold  connection  with  household 
blessings,  and  not,  perhaps,  without  influence  on  the 
later  belief  about  witches.^    As  Grimm  remarks,  when 

1  See  the  preface  to  Mannhardt's  Mythol.  Forschungen,  in  Q.  F.,  LI. 
p.  xi. 

2  Have  we  a  phase  of  the  Terra  Mater  in  that  mention  of  Erce,  and 
the  folde,Jira  modor,  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  charm? 

8  D.  M.  250.  *  For  oxen,  see  C.  P.  B.  I.  228 ;  Hyndlul.  v.  36  f . 

6  D.  M.  60.  6  Ibid.  254. 


436 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


a  bride  goes  to  marriage  in  fair  weather,  folk  say  that 
she  "  has  fed  the  cat  well."  Lovers  prayed  to  Freyja, 
and  for  the  purposes  of  cult,  as  well  as  by  the  tradi- 
tions of  mythology,  she  is  in  every  way  Germanic 
goddess  of  love. 

Probably  Freyja  and  Frigg,  Fr^a  and  Fricg,  were 
originally  one  and  the  same  goddess;  and  further- 
more, Bugge  1  may  be  right  in  ascribing  many  of  the 
tales  about  Freyja,  to  the  stories  heard  by  Vikings, 
and  less  truculent  travellers,  about  the  classical 
Venus.  As  Lady  of  the  Gods,  however,  Fricg,  the 
wife  of  Woden,  must  go  back  to  an  older  consort  of 
the  older  god,  —  Tins,  we  may  conjecture.  Remains 
of  the  cult  of  Fricg  are  collected  by  Grimm.^  As 
wife  of  Odin,  she  was  worshipped  in  Scandinavia, 
and  like  Freyja  —  one  may  almost  say  as  Freyja  — 
she  presided  over  marriages,  and  was  called  upon  for 
help  by  barren  women.  J.  M.  Kemble  has  found 
relics  of  Fricg  cult  in  England ;  and  they  have  been 
noted  in  Lower  Saxony .^  Perhaps  the  local  name 
Freckenhorst  is  derived  from  her  worship. 

Near  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt  were  discovered,  in 
1647,  numerous  altai-s  and  other  stones  containing 
inscriptions  to  one  Nehalennia;  and  similar  inscrip- 
tions have  since  been  found  at  Deutz  on  the  Rhine. 
The  goddess  is  represented  "  in  costume  like  a  Roman 
matron  " ;  a  dog  is  often  near  her,  as  well  as  baskets 
of  fruit.  Sometimes  she  appears  with  Neptune,  and 
has  her  foot  upon  the  bow  of  a  ship.  Kauffmann 
sees  in  her  a  goddess  of  sailors,  explains  the  name 
Nehalennia  itself  as  ultimately  based  on  the  Ger- 
manic word  for  "ship,"  and,  as  others   have  done. 


1  Studier,  p.  10. 


2  D.  M.  252  f . 


8  Ibid. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


437 


brings  her  cult  into  connection  with  the  account  given 
by  Tacitus  of  the  Germanic  worship  of  Isis.     As  Isis, 
this  Germanic  goddess  was  worshipped  by  the  for- 
eigners who  thronged  the  border  regions,  or  came 
hither  in  the  Roman  ships ;  for  Tacitus  speaks  of  the 
Frisian  waters  as  thickly  navigated  by  such  craft. 
So  far  Kauffmann.      Grimm  thought  the  name  was 
Celtic  and  connected  with  the  word  for  "  spinning."  ^ 
Another  cult  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  —  that  of  the 
goddess  Tanfana.     While  the  deities  mentioned  above 
belonged  to  the  circle  of  Ingsevonic  religion,  this  god- 
dess seems  to  have  been  best  known  to  the  Istsevones ; 
and  since  it  was  among  these  tribes  that  the  worship 
of  Woden  began  and  grew  into  such  stately  propor- 
tion, scholars  have  conjectured  that  Tanfana  was  his 
companion.      Let   us   hear   Tacitus.2      The    legions 
made   a   night   attack    upon   the    Mai-si,   who   were 
encamped  not  far  from  the  modern  Dortmund,  hold- 
ing festival, "  lying  upon  their  beds  or  about  the  tables, 
care-free,  not  even  with  their  sentinels  posted  .  .  . 
there  was  no  fear  of  battle,  and  yet  no  peace,  unless 
it  were  the  languid  and  disordered  peace  of  drunk- 
ards. ...    A  space  of  fifty  miles  [the  Ceesar]  lays 
waste  with  sword  and  flame.     Not  sex,  not  age,  were 
spared,  things  public  nor  things  sacred  (prof ana  simul 
ac  sacra);  even  the  temple  which  is  most  famous 
among  those  races,  which  they  call  the  temple  of 
Tanfana,  —  all  was  levelled  with  the  ground."    An  in- 
scription has  also  been  discovered,  —  Tanfanoe  sacrum  ; 
but  its  genuineness  is  denied.^    Another  deity  casually 

1  T).  MA  347, 40i ;  Simrock,  D.  M.  373,  576 ;  Kauffmann  in  P.  fi.  Beit. 
XIV.  210  ff. 

2^nn.  1.50  f.     It  is  the  year  14  A. D.  «  D.  3f.  64,  note2. 


438 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   GODS 


mentioned  by  Tacitus,  and  of  probable  Germanic 
belongings  and  Celtic  origin,  is  Baduhenna ;  ^  and  an 
inscription  to  a  goddess  Hludana  has  been  connected 
with  the  Scandinavian  Hlothyn,  —  a  connection 
stoutly  denied  by  Sophus  Bugge.^ 

We  are  concerned  here  not  with  myth  but  with 
actual  worship,  and  cannot  delay  over  names  like  that 
of  Balder.  Even  if  Balder  was  a  real  Germanic  god, 
we  have  no  traces  of  his  cult,  save  in  the  charm  given 
above  —  where  Bugge  contends  that  Balder  is  simply  a 
title,  "the  lord,"^ — and  in  the  names  of  a  few  places. 
He  had  a  son,  Forseti,  "  foresitter,"  president  of  a 
court,  the  ideal  judge ;  and  Grimm  connects  this  son 
with  the  Frisian  god  Fosite.^  Of  this  god's  cult  some 
account  has  been  preserved.  Liudger,  a  Christian 
missionary  preaching  the  gospel  among  his  heathen 
brethren,  sailed  to  the  island  Helgoland  (holy  isle),^ 
on  the  borders  of  the  Danish  and  Frisian  folk,  called 
after  the  name  of  the  god  Fosetesland  (a  nomine  dei 
falsi  Fosete  Foseteslant  est  appellata).  Another  holy 
man,  Willibrord,  visited  this  island ;  and  we  are  told 
that  it  was  entirely  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  god. 
A  well  or  spring  was  sacred  to  him,  from  which  none 
durst  drink  save  in  utter  silence.  Temples  —  what- 
ever we  are  to  understand  by  the  term —  were  erected 
in  his  honor ;  treasure  was  gathered  there  ;  and  flocks 
and  herds  grazed  about  the  place,  not  to  be  touched 

1  Ann.  IV.  73.  »  Studier,  p.  574. 

8  On  the  other  hand,  J.  Grimm  thinks  Phol  a  familiar  form  of  Balder. 
2).  M.  III.  80.  *  Fana  Fosetis.     See  D.  M.  190,  III.  80. 

6  Moller,  Altengl  Volksep.  p.  91,  note,  thinks  that  Helgoland  was  the 
sacred  isle  of  the  Saxons  south  of  the  Eider,  and  not  to  be  identified 
with  the  holy  isle  of  the  North  Anglians,  described  by  Tacitus,  Ger- 
mania,  XL.  40. 


439 


by  mortal.     It  was  believed  that  death  or  madness 
would  fall  upon  the  wretch  who  desecrated  any  of 
these  things ;  moreover,  the  king  was  wont  to  punish 
such  offenders  in  the  direst  fashion  (atrocissima  morte). 
Willibrord  baptized  three  persons  in  the  well,  and  his 
men  killed  some  of  the  sacred  animals;  hence  lots 
were  cast  by  the  outraged  heathen  to  see  if  the  Chris- 
tians should  die.     One  man  was  thus  marked  for  ven- 
geance, but  favoring  lots  allowed  the  saint  and  his 
other  companions  to  go  free.     When  Liudger  came, 
he  destroyed  temples,  groves,  and  whatever  savored 
of  the  heathen  cult.      The  name,  Fosetesland,  was 
of  course  consigned  to  silence ;  but  "  Helgoland  "  pre- 
serves the  memory  of  ancient  sanctity.      Adam   of 
Bremen  says  the  place  was  especially  venerated  by 
sailors  and  pirates,  ''whence  it  takes  the  name  Heilig- 
land."     As  late  as  the  eleventh  century,  superstition 
maintained  its  old  terrors ;  and  it  was  believed  that 
if  any  one  committed  robbery  on  the  island,  even  in 
regard  to  the  meanest  object,  he  would  suffer  ship- 
wreck or  a  violent  death.     To  the  hermits  who  were 
settled  about  the  place,  pirates  brought  a  tenth  part 
of  their  gains.    There  is  no  doubt  that  this  island  was 
a  chief  sanctuary  of  our  heathendom,  and  Richthofen 
IS  inclined  to  see  in  Fosite  the  "president"  of  the 
gods,  Woden  himself,  i 

d'U  ff "  i-'ilr^,  on  Friesische  Rechtsgeschichte,  II.  399  ff.,  424  f .,  431  f ., 
4^  ff.,  Richthofen  has  collected  the  material  used  above, -the  lives  o 
the  two  saints,  the  account  of  Adam,  etc. 


440 


GERMANIC  OKIGmS 


CHAPTER   XV 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


Places  of  worship  —  Temples  —  Images  and  columns  —  Priest 
and  priestess  —  Prayer,  offering  and  sacrifice  —  Survivals  —  Divi- 
nation and  auguries  —  Runes. 

Where  did  the  Germans  worship  ?  According  to 
Tacitus,^  who  indulges  here  in  a  bit  of  rhetoric,  they 
think  it  unbecoming  the  greatness  of  the  gods  to  shut 
them  in  with  walls  or  to  image  them  in  human  shapes. 
This  delicate  reasoning  never  occurred  to  a  German; 
but  it  is  evident  that,  as  a  fact,  he  had  no  temples 
such  as  the  Romans  had,  no  statues  of  the  classical 
sort,  and,  of  course,  nothing  of  that  art  which  lent 
itself  so  readily  to  the  purposes  of  sacred  decoration. 
But  places  of  worship  he  must  have  had ;  and  these, 
as  we  are  told  in  a  somewhat  obscure  passage  of  the 
Grermania?'  were  groves.  Islands  seem  to  have  been 
favorite  places  for  the  purposes  of  a  cult ;  and,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  all  of  Helgoland  was  given  up  to 
such  a  use.  Still,  groves  were  the  best-loved  temples. 
The  house  of  gods,  like  the  house  of  men,  could  be 
built  about  a  tree ;  and  we  cannot  altogether  reject 
the  romantic  reason,  added  by  Jacob  Grimm,  that 
something  oracular  and  divine  attracted  the  early 


1  Germ.  IX. 


2  Ibid.  *'  Lucos  et  nemora. 


>> 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


441 


worshipper  in  the  swaying  of  branches  and  the  low 
murmur  of  the  leaves.     We  may  suspect  from  the 
exquisite  tortures  which  tradition  assigned  to  him 
who  injured  a  tree,  that  it  was  once  a  question  of 
divine  as  well  as  human  property,  —  like  the  Jupiter- 
Oak  which  Boniface  cut  down.     Mention  is  made 
repeatedly  of  these  sacred  groves  among  the  Germans 
Such  was  the  grove  of  the  Semnones,  described  as 
follows  by  Tacitus.1     «  At  a  specified  time,  represen- 
tatives of  all  the  clans  of  this  race  assemble  in  a 
forest  which  is  sanctified  by  ancestral  auguries  and 
immemorial  fear,  formally  offer  up  a  human  sacrifice, 
and  celebrate  their  awful  and  barbaric  rites.    A  pecul- 
iar reverence  attaches  to  this  grove.     No  one  enters 
it  unless  bound  with  fettei^,  in  order  to  show  his  own 
humble  case  and  the  power  of  the  divinity ;  and  if  he 
chances  to  fall,  he  is  not  allowed  to  rise  and  stand 
up;  prone  as  he  is,  he  must  roll  along  the  ground. 
Ihe  whole  superstition  implies  that  in  this  grove  is 
the  origin  of  the  race,  here  lives  the  deity  who  rules 
them  all,  while  all  the  rest  are  but  subject  and  tribu- 
taij.      Mention  is  also  made  of  a  ,ilva  Herculi  mora, 
and  of  a  lucu,  Baduhennce?    The  grove  of  Nerthus  is 
another  example  ;   and  even  the  "temple  "  at  Upsala, 
described  by  Adam  of  Bremen,  seems  to  have  been 
originally  a  grove.     Moreover,  we  know  that  there 
were  places  of  sacrifice  in  these  primitive  temples - 
harharc,  ar^  is  what  Tacitus  calls  them.a     The  simple 
torest  fashion,  however,  seems  hardly  to  have  required 

tl  rV?,  '°  '*"  early  simplicity  Germanic  worship 
was  doubtless  content  to  hang  the  victim,  or  parts  of 
It,  directly  upon  the  sacred  tree  itself.     Around  this 

'Gem.  XXXIX.        «Tac.^„„.n.l2,III.73.       »  See  ^„„.  I.  61. 


442 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


sacred  tree,  with  its  fresh  hung  offering,  marched  or 
danced  the  worshippers,  singing  as  they  moved,  and 
dedicating  their  gift  to  the  local  deity .^  MuUenhoff 
refers  to  a  dialogue  of  Gregory  the  Great,  where  the 
heathens  are  described  as  running  in  this  fashion 
about  a  goat  sacrified  "  to  the  devil,"  with  dedication 
of  song  and  dance. ^ 

It  is  not  improbable  that  this  place  of  worship  was 
at  the  same  time  a  place  of  burial,  and  in  many  cases 
may  have  been  fixed  originally  by  the  tomb  of  a 
powerful  ancestor,  the  founder  of  the  race.  Scattered 
branches  of  such  a  race  would  naturally  unite  at 
stated  times  about  this  centre  of  sacred  tradition. 
Trees  are  planted  at  the  place  of  burial,  or  a  grove 
is  chosen  at  the  outset.  "  Each  grove,"  says  Tacitus, 
"is  named  after  the  god  to  whom  it  is  sacred";  and 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  apply  this  to  ancestral  as 
well  as  to  elemental  worship.  Such  a  tomb  as  is 
described  at  the  end  of  BSowulf  may  well  have 
been  a  typical  place  of  worship  for  Ingaevonic 
tribes;^  and  the  mingling  of  human  legend  with 
myth  pure  and  simple  —  for  Beowulf  is  as  much 
god  as  hero  —  agrees  in  all  probability  with  the 
confusion  of  two  forms  of  worship.  Lippert  would 
refer  to  a  similar  origin  the   mediaeval   association 

1  "  Germani  ea,  quae  diis  offerebant,  non  cremebant  neque  aras  neque 
altaria  more  graeco  ac  romano  habebant,  sed  capita  abscissa  et  exuvias 
victimarum  similiter  et  homines  diis  dicatos,  sacris  arboribus  suspen- 
debant ;  his  quoque  ferro  caedere  et  scrobibus,  aqua  ac  coeno  mergere 
solebant."    MUllenhoff,  de  antiq.  German,  poesi,  pp.  11, 12. 

2  Ibid.  Salt  springs  were  also  sacred  places,  for,  as  we  saw  above 
<p.  69),  the  god  was  thought  to  help  the  process  of  salt-making.  Ann. 
XIII.  57,  and  Amm.  Marc.  XXVIII.  5. 

8  Interesting  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  word  cumhol,  which  Cook  (Mod. 
Lang.  Notes,  1888)  shows  to  mean  mainly  a  cairn. 


FORM   AND  CEREMONY 


443 


of  sanctified  bones  and  other  relics  with  the  church 
itself.i 

Very  early  in  its  development,  this  Germanic  place 
of  worship  would  have  a  formal  enclosure,  made  by 
ditch  or  wall  or  hedge;  and  of  course  the  inmost 
part  of  the  primitive  "temple"  would  need  all 
possible  privacy  —  secretum  illud,  as  Tacitus  calls  it.2 
Progress  from  such  an  enclosure  to  walls  and  formal 
building  would  be  a  matter  partly  of  development, 
partly  of  influence  from  the  pagan  world.  We  should 
like  to  know  how  the  English  "fane"  appeared  which 
High-Priest  Coifi  helped  to  demolish.  Beda  ^  speaks 
of  the  aras  et  fana  idolorum  cum  septis^  quibus  erant 
circumdata,  and  says  that  Coifi,  lance  in  hand,  went 
up  to  the  idols.  This  would  indicate  buildings  and 
images. 

Jacob  Grimm  insisted  upon  the  existence  of  temples 
of  elaborate  fashion,  and  cited  that  "  templum  .  .  . 
Tanfanae  "  which  the  Romans  razed  to  the  ground. 
Moreover,  he  called  attention  to  the  Frisian  law  of 
later  times,  which  imposed  penalties  for  the  violation 
of  a  temple.*  In  Scandinavia,  at  least  for  the  later 
period,  we  must  allow  temples  in  the  modern  sense. 
The  Norwegian  emigrants  who  went  to  Iceland  took 
with  them  materials  of  their  old  heathen  temples,  as 

1  Rel.  d.  eur.  CulUirvolker,  p.  169. 

2  Germ.  IX.  Arminiiis  speaks  of  the  gods  who  dwelt  within  these 
pejietralia  as  unseen  by  the  people,  and  seen  only  by  the  priests.  Ann. 
^^- 1";       .  »  Hist.  Ecc.  II.  13. 

"Qui  fanum  effregit .  .  .  immolatur  diis  quorum  templa  violavit." 
feee  also  Holtzmann,  Germ.  Alt.  176.  The  Germans  seem  to  have 
nought  that  "death  or  madness"  would  fall  upon  the  profaner;  when 
tne  god  did  not  punish,  his  priest  or  king  took  the  task.  See  the  ac- 
count of  the  sacred  place  on  Helgoland,  p.  438,  and  Richthofen,  Fries, 
liecht.  p.  401. 


444 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


445 


well  as  earth  from  under  the  altars.  In  the  Eyrhyg- 
giasaga  we  are  told  of  a  definite  case,^  where  it  is  the 
caretaker  of  a  temple  sacred  to  Thor,  who  emigrates. 
When  he  rebuilds  in  Iceland,  whither  he  had  carried 
."most  of  the  woodwork,"  the  new  structure  is  "a 
great  house,  with  doors  in  the  side  walls  and  near  one 
end.  Inside  were  the  pillars  for  the  high-seats,  and 
in  them  nails  called  the  gods'  nails."  It  is  evidently 
an  exact  imitation  of  the  old  temple  in  Norway. 
This  heathen  temple  of  Scandinavia  seems  to  have 
been  a  rectangular  building,  rounded  at  one  end,  after 
the  manner  of  an  apse  or  choir  in  certain  Christian 
churches,  and  running  from  west  to  east.^  Besides 
this,  there  occurs  a  round  temple,  which  may  have 
been  the  more  primitive  form.^  The  material  was 
doubtless  timber.  Decoration  and  metal  work  were 
matter  of  imitation  and  opportunities ;  the  lavish  use 
of  gold,  which  makes  Adam  of  Bremen  speak  of  the 
temple  at  Upsala  as  totum  ex  auro  paratum,  is  not 
a  characteristic  of  early  Germanic  fanes.  Neverthe- 
less, we  hear  of  great  treasure  found  in  the  temples 
of  the  heathen  Frisians.*  In  the  primitive  grove, 
with  rough  enclosure,  there  was  doubtless  ornament, 
but  of  a  more  barbarous  fashion,  —  emblems  and 
mystic  signs,  approaching  the  fetishistic  order.  In 
the  "  apse  "  were  set  up  the  images,  such  as  there 

1  p.  E.  Miiller,  Sagabibliothek,  I.  190  f . ;  Maurer  Bek.  d.  Norw.  St. 
II.  190,  note. 

2  This  explains  the  advice  of  Pope  Gregory  to  use  the  English  temples 
as  Christian  places  of  worship.  See  Petersen,  p.  20,  from  whom  much 
of  this  summary  is  borrowed. 

8  Petersen,  p.  23.  Dimensions  of  the  other  kind  of  temple  are  noted ; 
in  one  case,  120  by  60  feet. 

4  Richthofen,  II.  379.  **  Magnum  thesaurum  quem  in  delubris  iuve- 
nerant." 


were  ;  and  before  them  was  a  sort  of  altar  covered 
with  iron,  whereupon  burned  a  fire  that  durst  not  be 
extinguished,  —  "  the  sacred  fire."  ^  Here  lay  the  ring, 
dipped  by  the  priest  in  sacrificial  blood,  and  upon 
which  all  oaths  were  sworn ;  but  when  the  chieftain 
presided  at  popular  meetings,  he  wore  this  ring  upon 
his  hand.2  On  this  altar,  moreover,  stood  the  vessel 
which  held  the  blood  of  sacrifice.  No  one  was  allowed 
to  carry  arms  within  the  temple. 

We  have  spoken  of  images  set  up  in  the  "  apse  "  of 
this  later  Scandinavian  temple.  What  were  they? 
Evidently  in  Scandinavia  these  were  direct  portrayals 
of  the  gods,  as  is  clearly  proved  by  the  account  so 
often  quoted  from  Adam  of  Bremen.  For  older 
stages  of  our  culture,  we  must  observe  great  caution ; 
and  if  we  find  mention  of  images,  we  must  ascer- 
tain definitely  wliat  we  are  to  understand.  In  the 
Q-ermania^^  a  sanctuary  of  "Castor  and  Pollux,"  so 
called,  is  said  to  have  no  images,  nulla  simulacra; 
but  the  Germans,  as  Tacitus  elsewhere  informs  us, 
were  wont  to  bear  into  the  battle  signa  deorum^  — 
effigies  et  signa.  What  are  effigies  et  signa?  The 
school  of  anthropologists  who  lately  have  been  pick- 
ing our  poor  Germanic  myths  to  mere  shreds  and 
tatters,  tell  us  in  their  interpretatio  Africana  that  the 
emblems  in  question  were  nothing  more  than  fetishes, 
—  old  weapons  with  the  head  of  a  beast.*  Better  is 
the  theory  of  Miillenhoff,^  though  after  all  the  differ- 

1  Petersen,  p.  24.  2  Maurer,  Bek.  d.  Norw.  St.  II.  190. 

«  Cap.  XLIII.  4  Rel.  d.  eur.  Cult.  121. 

6  De  antiq.  German,  poesi,  p.  13.  Holtzmann  refers  to  the  later  use 
of  animals  in  coats  of  arms.  See  also  Tac.  Hist.  IV.  22,  for  the  effigies. 
Miillenhoff's  words  are:  "signa  .  .  .  arma  et  instrumenta,  quae  a 
m3^hologis  nostris  attributa  dicuntur,  e.g.  lancea  Mercurii  (Wodani) 


i 


ha 


446 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


ence  is  nominal,  that  the  signa  were  sundry  signs  or 
attributes  of   the  gods,  as  the  lance  of  Woden  or 
Thor's  hammer ;  while  the  effigies  were  figures  of  ani- 
mals, like  Woden's  wolf  or  the  goat  of  Thor.     We 
hear  of  a  bull  among  the  Cimbrians,  and  of  a  snake 
among  the  Lombards,  used  for  such  a  signum.     The 
moment  when  line   of  battle  was   formed   and  the 
attack  was  begun,  counted  among  the  most  sacred 
occasions  possible  in  Germanic  life ;  and  these  signa 
doubtless  meant  for  the  soldier  the  presence  and  aid 
of  the  deity  invoked.     They  were  borne  into  battle 
by  the  priests,  and  doubtless  had  been  adored  and 
consecrated  during  the  night  in  their  sacred  grove, 
amid  rites  of  the  cult  and  that  indispensable  banquet 
"per   noctem"  which  always   preceded  a  Germanic 
fight.^     We  must  also  bear  in  mind  another  sort  of 
images,  which  could  have  analogy  with  these  "  signs," 
—  the  posts  of  the  high-seats,  carved  with  the  image  of 
a  god  or  his  symbol.     After  a  great  victory  over  their 
rivals, the  Saxons ^  set  up  a  column  with  an  "effigy" 
of  one  of  their  gods.     Much  has  been  disputed  about 
this  triumphal  affair ;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  not 
so  much  an  image  as  a  huge  pillar  with  rude  carvings 
of  a  head  and  the  usual  symbols.     Another  and  later 
account  is  more  explicit.     In  772  Charlemagne  waged 
war  against  the  Saxons,  who  were  stubborn  to  des- 
peration in  their  heathen  faith ;  and  he  destroyed  a 

malleus  Herculis  (Tonantis,  Thunaris),  gladius  Martis  (TLvi),  phallus 
Liberi  .  .  .  sed  effigies  secundum  ipsum  Tacitum  (Hist.  IV.  22)  ima- 
gines erant  f  erarum  quae  symbolice  deos  ipsos  indicabant  ut  anguis  .  .  . 
et  lupus  Mercurium,  ursus  et  caper  Tonantem.  ..." 

1  Mullenhoff,  work  quoted,  p.  13;  Tac.  Ann.  I.  65,  II.  12;  Hist.  IV. 

14. 

2  In  530  A.D.    The  account  is  given  by  Widukind  of  Corvey,  I.  12. 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


447 


sacred  place  of  theirs  which  contained  an  Irminsul^  a 
column  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  sacred  grove,  and 
held  by  all  the  neighboring  tribes  in  boundless  vene- 
ration. This  Irminsul  is  called  now  the  "  fane,"  now 
the  "  idol '' ;  we  shall  hardly  err  in  explaining  it  as  a 
column  more  or  less  carved.  The  annals  speak  of 
masses  of  treasure  which  Charles  carried  away  from 
this  "temple,"  a  trait  which  Grimm  thinks  quite 
legendary,  the  flourish  of  a  chronicler,  but  which 
Richthofen  defends  as  historical.^  It  seems  reason- 
ably sure  that,  whatever  the  nature  of  this  Irminsul^ 
the  heathen  Frisians  —  they  were  our  nearest  conti- 
nental relatives  —  had  regular  idols  or  images.  The 
missionaries  speak  with  horror  of  a  heathendom  which 
can  seek  help  from  stones  and  from  deaf  and  dumb 
images,  "  a  lapidihus  ,  .  ,  et  a  simulacris  mutis  et  sur- 
dis;''  and  Richthofen's  defence  of  this  and  other 
testimony  seems  to  be  valid.^ 

In  Iceland  and  the  Norse  realm  generally  we  find 
regular  images  of  the  gods.  Adam  of  Bremen  dis- 
tinctly testifies  to  the  three  images  at  Upsala  in 
Sweden,  —  Odin,  Thor,  and  Freyr  (Fricco);  Odin 
as  a  warrior  in  mail,  Thor,  with  sceptre,  holding  the 
middle  place  as  greatest  god,  Freyr  with  the  custom- 
ary phallic  symbols  of  fecundity  and  peace.  Direct 
testimony  about  similar  images  in  various  parts  of 
Scandinavia  is  collected  by  Petersen.^  Maurer  says 
that  little  images  of  the  gods  were  carried,  amulet  fash- 
ion, in  the  pocket  of  the  pious  Norsemen.^    Figure- 

1  Grimm,  D.  M.*  95  if.    Richthofen,  p.  381  ff. 

2  Ibid.  421  ff.,  448  f.  No  image  of  Foseti  is  mentioned  in  the  account 
of  Helgoland. 

8  Work  quoted,  p.  33  ff.  4  Bek.  d.  Norw.  St.  II.  231. 


448 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


heads  of  the  Norse  ship  are  probably  to  be  refeiTed 
to  a  similar  origin.  We  hear,  moreover,  of  prayer 
where  the  Norseman  bowed  before  his  images,  or 
even  threw  himself  on  the  floor  of  the  fane ;  he 
did  not  look  at  the  images,  but  held  his  hands 
before  his  eyes  "in  order  to  shut  out  the  blinding 
glare  of  deity." 

Priests  were  a  Germanic  institution  known  in  all 
the  tribes  ;i  but  it  is  better  not  to  lay  too  much 
stress  upon  a  priesthood.  Caesar,  denying  a  priest- 
hood, really  concedes  German  priests ;  ^  the  Cimbrians 
in  Italy  had  priestesses ;  and  Tacitus  goes  so  far  as  to 
define  priestly  duties  among  the  tribes  of  which  he 
writes.^  In  public  life  the  German  priest  played  a 
leading  part,  and,  aside  from  times  of  war,  seems  to 
have  had  more  civil  power  than  even  the  head  of 
the  state;  indeed,  Scherer  thinks^  that  Munch  and 
Maurer  were  right,  against  Waitz,  in  attributing 
priestly  power  to  the  chieftains.  This  assumption, 
as  we  shall  see,  derives  its  strongest  support  from  the 
practice  of  Scandinavia ;  though  there  is  an  extreme 
case  of  priestly  authority  mentioned  by  Ammianus  in 
his  account  of  the  Burgundians.  The  king,  he  says, 
may  be  deposed,  if  fortune  desert  the  tribe  in  its 
campaigns  or  in  its  crops  ;  but  the  priest  (sinistus) 
may  not  be  deposed.^  If  we  are  only  willing  to  waive 
the  question  of  identity  and  not  to  consider  too  curi- 

1  W.  Miiller,  System,  p.  82. 

2  VI.  21.  His  denial  is  based  on  comparison  with  an  elaborate  system 
like  that  of  the  Druids.     Grimm,  D.  M.  73. 

*  Minister  deorum  is  his  term  for  priest.       ^  Anzeiger  H.  Z.  IV.  100. 

*  "  Nam  sacerdos  apud  Burgiindios  omnium  maximus  vocatur  Sin- 
istus et  est  perpetuus,  obuoxius  discrimiuibus  uullis  ut  reges."  Am. 
Mar.  28,  5, 14. 


i 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


449 


ously  the  personality  of  the  priest,  we  may  find  a 
clear  and  definite  summary  of  his  functions  in  the 
account  of  Tacitus,  who  tells  us  that  a  public  priest 
casts  the  lots;  accompanies  the  progress  of  a  god- 
dess; has  charge  of  the  sacred  things  —  effigfies  et 
signa ;  is  present  at  the  great  assemblies  of  the  peo- 
ple, commanding  silence  and  invoking  divine  protec- 
tion ;  and,  when  sentence  has  been  pronounced  upon 
criminals,  is  entrusted  with  execution  of  the  sentence.^ 
In  heathen  Scandinavia  it  is  a  positive  principle  that 
all  details  of  worship  are  closely  connected  with  the 
administration  of  affairs  in  general,  and  testify  to 
a  union  of  church  and  state  .2  The  king  is  high 
priest ;  and  where  a  "  jarl "  acts  as  viceroy,  he  per- 
forms the  king's  duty  at  sacrifice  and  banquet.  In 
Iceland,  the  judicial  districts  were  each  under  control 
of  an  officer  who  was  at  once  judge  and  priest ;  and 
Maurer  seems  to  assume  that  this  custom  was  com- 
mon to  all  Germanic  races.^  The  place  of  justice,  of 
oath  and  trial  and  lawsuit,  was  the  place  of  prayer 
and  sacrifice.  It  was  also,  in  all  probability,  a  place 
of  trade,  as  is  proved  by  the  history  of  many  a  holy 
resort  which  develops  into  a  centre  of  trade,  the 
capital  city  of  the  land.  Trade  and  justice  demand 
peace ;  and  peace  was  only  possible  under  the  awful 
sanctions  of  a  present  god. 

Little  information  reaches  us  in  regard  to  the  dress 
and  habits  of  a  Germanic  priest.  Beda  says  that 
Anglo-Saxon  priests  bore  no  weapons  and  rode  upon 
mares,  which  as  late  as  Chaucer's  time  was  deemed 
a  disreputable  mount.*    It  is  probable  that  the  official 


1  Qerm.  X.,  XL,  XL.,  etc. 
«  Belc.  a.  None.  St.  IL  210. 


2  Petersen,  p.  1  fif. 
*D.M.75;  R.A.mS. 


I\ 


H 


450 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


\\ 


1 1 


robe  of  a  priest  was  white,i  and  we  hear  of  Gothic 
priests  "with  hats,"  in  distinction  to  the  ordinary 
freemen  with  flowing  locks.  Striking  is  the  costume 
of  the  Cimbrian  sibyls,  —  gray-haired  women  dressed 
in  white,  with  red  over-garment  and  metallic  girdle, 
but  bare  of  foot.  They  cut  the  throats  of  the  cap- 
tives, and  let  the  blood  flow  into  a  brazen  kettle,  — 
evidently  priestly  functions ;  while  the  wise-woman, 
of  whom  much  has  already  been  said,^  was  doubtless 
held  in  reverence  little  inferior  to  that  felt  towards 
the  priests  themselves. 

Conjecture  and  uncertainty  surround  our  efforts 
to  discover  the  details  of  private  or  public  rite  con- 
ducted by  these  priests,  and  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  what  we  know  of  their  ceremony  as  a 
whole.  To  us,  perhaps,  the  simplest  form  of  worship 
is  adoration ;  but  already  in  this  "  adoration  "  we  have 
the  notion  of  prayer  and  of  the  movement  of  the  lips. 
Prayer,  a  crude  desire  for  good  to  the  person  who  is 
praying,  may  be  attributed  in  some  form  to  primitive 
races ;  but  it  is  not  the  initial  act  of  religious  ceremony. . 
Grimm  distinguishes  three  periods  of  worship;  the 
first  knew  only  sacrifice,  the  second  combined  sacrifice 
and  prayer,  the  third  had  prayer  alone.^  But  Tylor, 
who  remarks  that  even  the  rude  charm  is  really  a 
prayer,  seems  to  reject  this  classification ;  ^  and  we 
may  allow  some  form  of  prayer  in  the  rudest  cult. 
Prayer  was  undoubtedly  a  matter  of  bended  knee, 
crossed  hands,  and  uplifted  eye.     Tacitus   tells  us 

1  D.  M.  m.  39. 

2  Above,  p.  141.    See  also  Caesar  B.  G.  I.  50. 

8  J.  Grimm,  iiber  das  Gebet,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  460. 
^  P.  C.  II.  364,  373  f. 


FORM  AND   CEREMONY 


451 


that  the  priest  who  cast  lots  glanced  towards  heaven 
as  he  took  up  the  kevils ;  ^  while  from  other  sources 
and  survivals  it  has  been  surmised  that  the  German 
looked  in  supplication  towards  the  north  as  the  home 
of  his  gods.  As  to  the  words  or  form,  it  is  signif- 
icant that  Old  Germanic  poetry,  while  it  contains 
plenty  of  greeting  and  invocation,  does  not  preserve 
us  a  single  prayer ;  and  it  is  supposed  by  Meyer  that 
this  omission  is  made  purposely .^ 

But  the  simplest  form  of  worship  is  not  a  definite 
prayer,  as  we  understand  the  word — a  desire  for  good 
expressed  to  a  power  capable  of  granting  what  we 
wish.  The  primitive  act  is  prostration  as  if  before  an 
earthly  king,  the  sign  of  surrender  and  absolute  sub- 
mission.3  To  fling  one's  self  on  the  ground,  or  to  bow 
neck  or  head,  expresses  the  elementary  act  of  relig- 
ion. But  after  submission  comes  tribute,  and  indeed 
this  is  the  main  fact  which  proved  submission,  just  as 
prostration  symbolized  it.  Tribute  to  a  heavenly 
power,  whether  conceived  as  ancestor  or  as  personal 
power  of  nature,  took  a  form  which  we  call  sacrifice. 
Of  this  presently. 

Solemn  chant  and  hymn,  with  dance,  are  among 
the  earliest  symbolic  acts  of  worship.  Scherer  in  his 
Poetik  is  at  considerable  pains  to  show  why  men 
should  have  hit  upon  these  expressions  of  emotion, 
and  sees  erotic  excitement  as  one  of  the  leading 
causes.^    Devil-dancers  and  medicine-men  testify  to 

a  ^^^^'  ^'  ^  ^'  ^'  ^®y®^'  Altgerm.  Poesie,  p.  389. 

«  We  have  many  of  these  symbolic  motions  in  the  submission  of 
mediaeval  vassals  to  their  masters.  Pretty  is  the  passage  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Wanderer,  when  the  exile  dreams  he  is  once  more  laying  his 
head  between  his  master's  hands,  and  on  his  knee,  and  is  "  clipped  " 
and  kissed.  4  Poetik,  Berlin,  1888. 


I 


452 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


il 


the  connection  of  dancing  with  religious  excitement ; 
and  we  may  imagine  that  the  pleasure  of  muscular 
exertion,  analogous  to  the  delights  of  feast  and  revel, 
was  once  thought  to  be  shared  by  the  spirits  and  the 
gods  themselves.     Dancing  was  a  common  occurrence 
in  the  rites  of  field  and  harvest.     About  the  last  load 
of  grain,  or  the  figure  set  up  in  the  yard,  the  peasants 
form  a  ring  and  dance.i     Dancing  on  and  by  the  an- 
cestral graves  has  been  mentioned  already ,2  and  the 
village   dance-place,  undoubtedly  a  survival  of  the 
older  place  of  sacrifice,  is  in  some  places  still  con- 
secrated with  great  pomp  and  ceremony .3     Even  the 
Christian  church  took   over   from  heathendom  this 
custom  of  dancing  as  a  part  of  religious  ceremony, 
and  it  would  seem  that  the  councils  were  forced  to 
take  measures  against  the  abuse ;  ^  so  firmly  was  the 
practice  fixed  in  popular  tradition,  that  we  hear  of 
nuns  dancing  in  a  church  — this  in  the  eighth  and 
ninth  centuries  —  and  of  repeated  rebukes  from  the 
clergy.5     The  word  Idc  means  in  Anglo-Saxon  both 
a  religious  ceremony  and  a  game  or  play,  a  dance 
or  "  leaping  "  ;  the  second  syllable  of  "  wedlock  "  is 
the  same  word,  and  points  to  a  religious  ceremony. 
Altogether,  we  may  be  sure  of  the  great  importance  of 
dancing  in  the  ceremonies  of  our  heathen  forefathers. 
Undoubtedly,  however,  sacrifice   was   the   central 
fact,  and  Grimm  remarks  that  many  of  the  words 
used  for  prayer  go  back  to  the  notion  of  an  offering.^ 
Symbolic  acts  such  as  the  already-mentioned  prostra- 
tion in  the  grove  of  the  Semnones,  are,  of  course, 

1  Pfannenschmidt,  pp.  38,  99.  2  ibid.  166.  8  n,id.  286  f. 

*  Probably  in  the  Council  of  742,  held  under  Boniface. 

6  Pfannenschmidt,  p.  489  f.  6  Ueber  das  Gebet,  Kl.  Schr.  II.  461. 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


453 


ancient  enough;  and  we  know  that  in  Scandinavia 
men  bowed  before  the  images  on  ordinary  occasions, 
but  in  formal  prayer   threw  themselves  down   and 
prayed  in  the  dust.    Still,  all  this  was  only  an  out- 
ward flourish   of  the  sacrifice.     Religion  was  cere- 
monial and  a  bargain  ;  the  gods  were  not  thought  to 
give  blessings  pour  les  beaux  yeux  of  their  worshippers. 
We  have  all  grades  of  importance  in  the  nature  of 
the  offering,  from  a  simple  gift  of  milk  or  flesh  or 
grain  carried  out  to  a  grave,  or  set  in  the  corner  of 
the  house,  up  to  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings.     The 
German  word  for  offering,  and  that  for  sacrifice,  have 
disappeared :  both  expressions  are  now  of  Latin  ori- 
gin.i     We  may  suppose  that  there  were  several  words 
corresponding  to  the  several  kinds  of  offering,  since 
we  know  that  there   was,  in   the   first  place,  food 
given  directly  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  that 
there   was    food    or    drink    set   out  for  the   spirits 
connected  with  one  of  the  elements.     Out  of  this 
simple  notion  may  grow  an  elaborate  cult,  such  as 
the  one  found  on  the  island  of  Rugen  and  described 
—perhaps  seen  2—  by  Saxo  Grammaticus.     The  rites 
are  Slavonic,  but  are  probably  not  very  different  from 
the  Germanic  fashion.      On  the  northernmost  cliff 
of  the  island,  with  three  sides  of  rock  falling  sheer  to 
the  sea,  the  fourth  side  an  artificial  barrier,  lay  the 
sanctuary.     It  was  a  wooden  temple  with  double  en- 
closure.     Within  was  an  enormous  image  which  had 
four  heads  and  was  invested  with  a  sword.     In  its 
right  hand  it  held  a  horn  made  of  different  metals, 

A^J^^^T^lf''''  ""'  ^^'''  ^'^^  ^^''^^'  «^^  Skeat.  5.r.,  and  Sweet  in 
•^ngiia,,  ill.  156. 

2  Lippert,  Relig.  d.  eur.  Cult.  p.  92 ;  Saxo,  XIV.  H.  319. 


454 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


455 


which  the  priest  annually  filled  with  wine,  wherein 
he  read  the  prosperity  of  the  coming  year.  The  cult 
was  very  simple.  After  harvest  of  each  year,  all 
people  of  the  island  came  together  at  this  temple, 
sacrificed  certain  animals,  and  celebrated  a  great 
feast.  Before  this,  however,  the  priest  was  expected 
to  sweep  out  the  precincts  of  the  temple  with  a  sacred 
broom,  taking  care  not  to  breathe  while  within,  but 
running  outside  as  often  as  he  was  forced  to  draw  fresh 
breath.  On  the  day  of  the  feast,  the  horn  of  wine  is 
examined,  and  emptied  at  the  feet  of  the  image ;  new 
wine  is  then  poured  into  the  vessel,  while  the  priest 
drinks  to  the  god.  A  great  cake  is  laid  upon  the 
altar,  which  must  vanish  before  another  year.  Prayei^ 
are  made  for  a  good  crop,  and  then  the  priest  dis- 
misses the  people  to  their  feast.  All  this  is  merely 
an  expansion  of  the  primitive  and  simple  rites  of 
element  and  spirit  cult. 

The  libation  is  a  detached  ceremony  of  these  early 
rites,  with  evident  origin  in  the  worship  of  the  dead. 
The  early  missionaries  speak  of  a  drink-offering  (dia- 
holi  in  amorem  vinum  hibere)  which  they  met  in 
heathen  ceremonies ;  in  simplest  form  it  is  the  minne- 
drink  to  a  dead  relative  and  so  ranging  up  to  the 
Odin^s  minne  itself.  An  interesting  passage  in  the 
life  of  St.  Columbanus  by  Jonas  Bobbiensis,  early 
in  the  seventh  century,  tells  of  a  group  of  Suevi 
gathered  about  an  immense  vessel  full  of  beer,  with 
which  they  were  about  to  sacrifice  Qitare)  to  their 
god  Mercury,  whom  they  called  Wodan.  The  vessel 
was  probably  an  "offering  kettle,"  and  the  rites  were 
unmixed  with  severer  features,  —  merely  a  libation.^ 

1  Grimm,  i).  3f.46,51. 


The  saint  blew  (literally)  the  cask  to  pieces.  Of 
course,  all  this  holy  fervor  did  not  drive  the  drink- 
offering  into  absolute  disuse;  there  came  the  usual 
substitution  of  saints  for  heathen  gods  in  the  matter 
of  libation,  the  drinking  of  St.  John's  or  St.  Ger- 
trude's minne  in  a  Christian  church,  as  well  as  the 
survival  in  social  customs,  the  loving-cup  and  the 
toast. 

Mention  is  frequently  made  of  milk,  honey,  fruit, 
even  flowers,  as  offering  in  family  worship.     Yet  it  is 
probable  that  most  of  these   offerings   are   compro- 
mises ;  they  represent  ancient  rites  of  a  far  sterner 
character,  and  the  blood  of  a  victim  slain  upon  the 
tomb.      Heathen   Germans    of    the   early  historical 
period  had  a  few  of  these  compromises,  concessions 
to  advancing  culture  ;  the  Indiculus  forbids,  among 
other  things,  the  baking  of  cake  and  bread  in  form  of 
some  animal  —  doubtless  the  beast  ordinarily  sacri- 
ficed to   the   god  in  question.     In  a  Norse  saga  we 
find  this  mentioned  as  a  part  of  formal  worship  :  men 
"  baked  images  of  the  gods ; "  i  and  there  are  many 
survivals  known  to  students  of  folk-lore  as  well  as  to 
the  youthful  purchaser  of  a  gingerbread  horse.  Other 
compromises  for  ancient  sacrifices  are  the  usages  of 
field  and   harvest    to    which    we    have    frequently 
referred.     Reapers  leave  a  few  stalks  of  grain  stand- 
ing in  the  field  and  still  declare  that  it  is  for  Wode 
or  some   other   disguised   deity  of  old ;    while   the 
Holstem  peasant  will  not  pick  the  last  half-dozen 
apples  from  his  tree.^ 

The  sacrifice  of  animals  themselves  may  have  been 
at  one  time  a  compromise  for  more  horrid  rites,  but 

1  Frithio/s.  and  D.  M.  51.  a  />.  jf,  47, 


I 


456 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


457 


this  is  to  consider  too  curiously  for  our  purposes.  In 
animal  sacrifice,  blood  plays  its  great  part ;  for  it  has 
always  been  matter  of  popular  belief  that  the  gods 
hold  with  Mephistopheles :  — 

Blut  ist  ein  ganz  besondrer  Saft ; 

and  the  shade  of  an  ancestor,  the  spirits  of  the  dead, 
are  thought  to  love  nothing  so  much  as  the  warm, 
red  sap  of  life.  Blood  was  the  original  savor  and 
charm  of  sacrifice,  the  most  grateful  part  of  the 
offering. 

The  sacrifice  of  animals  was  conducted  with  de- 
liberate pomp.  Horns  of  the  victim  were  gilded, 
and  garlands  were  hung  about  its  neck  and  "  silken 
flanks."  It  was  led  thrice  about  the  altar  or  else  about 
the  whole  assembly;  and  was  killed  by  the  altar- 
stone  amid  song  and  dance  of  the  worshippers,  who 
were  themselves  decked  out  in  festal  array.  The 
blood  was  caught  in  vessels  or  in  a  pit,  and  with  this 
blood  priests  smeared  sacred  trees,  altar  and  walls 
of  the  holy  place,  and  sprinkled  the  assembled  multi- 
tude. Entrails,  heart,  liver,  lungs,  were  devoted  to 
the  gods  ;  the  rest  was  devoured  by  the  people.^  The 
cost  of  such  a  sacrifice  was  defrayed  out  of  public 
funds,  and  was  a  state  affair.  Fire  played  its  part, 
as  usual,  in  ceremonial  as  well  as  practical  purpose ; 
and  we  may  fancy  that  natural  desire  would  prompt 
the  association  of  a  liberal  drink-offering. 

Sacrifice  differed  according  to  its  purpose  and 
occasion.  It  might  be  a  matter  of  joy,  revel,  and 
feasting,  or  it  might  be  the  sterner  rite  to  expiate  a 
sin  or  avert  some  pestilence ;  in  the  former  case,  deity 

A  Pf  annenschmid,  p.  38  f . 


would  be  an  honored  guest,  but  in  the  latter,  the 
god  would  appear  as  an  angry  and  exacting  master. 
The  latter  would  be  extraordinary;  the  former  a 
matter  of  regular  recurrence,  like  the  festal  dates  of 
Midsummer,  Easter,  and  Yule,  or  the  more  frequent 
celebration  of  full  or  new  moon.  Feasts  of  this  sort 
are  to  the  present  day  bound  up  with  religion ;  we 
hold  them  in  our  houses,  and  leave  the  church  to 
provide  for  more  purely  devotional  ceremonies.^ 

The  favorite  animal  for  sacrifice  seems  to   have 
been  the  horse,  though  ox,  boar,  and  ram,  were  often 
used; 2  and  the  cock  must  have  played  a  brave  part.3 
Color  was  of  great  importance,  and  the  male  sex  was 
alone   accepted.      White   horses,  white   cattle,  were 
special  favorites ;  and  a  host  of  cases  could  be  cited 
where  folk-lore  has  preserved  this  prejudice  for  the 
white.4     On  the  other  hand,  black  animals  —  without 
speck  of  other  color  —  were  also  chosen  for  sacrifice, 
and   in  witchcraft,  residuary   legatee   of   much   old 
sacrifice-lore,  black  cats,  cocks,  and  so  on,  are  particu- 
larly popular.       But  the  horse  was  prime  favorite  for 
sacrifice.^    In  the  famous  passage  of  Tacitus  ^  which 
describes  a  battle  between  two  German  tribes  for  the 
possession  of  a  salt-spring,  we  are  told  that  the  victors 
"had  dedicated  their  opponents  to  Mars  and  Mercury ;  7 
and  in  accordance  with  this  vow,  horses,  men,  all  that 

1  The  councils  forbade  '*  convivia  in  ecclesia  preparare."    See  Pfan- 
nenschmid,  p.  311. 

2  D  M.  40  ff.  8  Hehn.  271  f .    See,  too,  a  host  of  legends. 
*K    c  ^Y^,.«^^°^i^ed  this  peculiarity  at  some  length  in  a  paper  "On 
the  Symbolic  Use  of  the  Colors  White  and  Black  in  Germanic  Tradi- 
tion^   Haver/ord  College  Studies,  I.    Philadelphia,  1889.    See  also  Sim- 
rock,  Mythol.  610  f . 

«  See  above,  p.  40.  6  Ann.  XIII.  57. 

All  prisoners  were  to  be  sacrificed  to  Tius  and  Woden. 


458 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


the  conquered  possessed,  were  given  to  destruction." 
Here  we  have  a  sacrifice  in  the  grand  style ;  while 
"horses  and  men"  has  the  true  nomadic  ring.  A 
valued  article  of  food,  the  horse  must  be  a  gracious 
offering  to  the  gods,  and  was  held  as  sacred  among 
the  Germans  as  it  had  been  among  the  inhabitants  of 
ancient  Persia.  Its  use  for  sacrifice  and  for  divina- 
tions continued  down  to  modern  times,  witness  two 
striking  survivals,  —  one  from  Denmark,  and  one 
from  Switzerland.  In  Thiele's  Folk-Tales  of  Den- 
mark,i  we  are  told  of  a  peasant  who  has  a  changeling 
foisted  upon  him,  and  cannot  tell  his  own  baby  from 
the  intruder.  He  takes  a  wild  colt,  and  lays  before 
it  on  the  ground  the  two  children  in  question.  Look- 
ing at  one  child,  the  horse  is  fain  to  stroke  it  and 
remains  very  quiet;  looking  at  the  other,  it  rages 
and  tries  to  trample  the  changeling  to  death.  This 
is  exactly  in  line  with  the  statement  of  Tacitus  ^  that 
the  horse  was  used  for  divination,  and  that  particular 
attention  was  paid  to  his  neighings ;  while  yet  an- 
other parallel  to  the  Danish  anecdote  is  a  ceremony 
of  Slavonic  worship  practised  on  the  island  of  Riigen 
nearly  a  thousand  years  ago,  in  which  white  horses 
sacred  to  the  god  Svantohvit  were  used  as  oracles 
after  the  following  fashion.  Before  the  temple  was 
laid  a  triple  row  of  lances,  and  it  was  noted  whether 
the  sacred  horse  first  crossed  the  line  with  his  left 
or  his  right  foot.^  The  second  survival  comes  from 
Switzerland.*  In  1815,  a  peasant  girl  had  St.  Vitus' 
dance  and,  despite  all  ordinary  remedies,  failed  to  im- 

1  Danmarks  Folkesagn,  II.  276.        2  Qerm.  X. 
8  See  Lippert,  Rel.  d.  eiir.  Cult.  p.  99. 
*  H.  Runge  in   Zst.f.  Mythol.  IV.  5. 


i  i 


FORM   AND  CEREMONY 


459 


prove  under  treatment.     At  last,  the  parents  took  a 
horse,  burned  a  quantity  of  straw  which  was  fastened 
to  its  neck,  and  then  buried  the  horse  alive  in  a  deep 
pit  along  with  a  number  of  household  implements. 
This  was  expected  to  cure  the  girl,  no  matter  how 
desperate  her  case ;  it  was  a  last  appeal.     A  more 
agreeable  form  of  this  cult,  however,  was  the  sacri- 
ficial banquet,  a  highly  popular  festivity;  as  result 
the  eatmg  of  horse-flesh  was  sign  of  heathendom! 
and  remains  taboo  down  to  the  present.     Heathen 
Swedes  were    called   "horse-eaters"  by  their  con 
%^rted  brethren.!     Heads  of  horees  and  other  sacrifi- 
cial beasts,  often  the  hides  as  well,  were  hung  on 
trees  as  an  offering  to  the  gods.^ 

But  it  was  not  only  horses  that  figured  in  the  Tac- 
itean  account ;  men  were  included,  as  they  were  in 
all  highly  important  sacrificial  rites.     Here,  indeed 
we  enter  the  chamber  of  horrors  in  ethnology  •  for 
human  sacrifice,  to  quote  the  words  of  Victor  Hehn 

"peers  uncannily  from  the  dark  past  of  every  Arvan 
race.   3    ^     „ff^^  ^j^^  ^^^^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^  ^        y^ 

outcome  of  the  doctrine  of  sacrifice ;  but  the  anthro- 
pologists tell  us  that  the  custom  opens  the  door  upon 
a  passage  which  leads  back  to  cannibalism  itself. 
Originally  a  simple  matter  of  give  and  take,  sacrifice 
became  later  an  act  of  propitiation  or  thanksgiving, 
with  some  faint  ethical  notions,  perverted  enough, 
shimmering  about  it.  The  Germans  appear  in  historv 
with  sufficiently  marked  love  of  human  sacrifice  - 
witness  the  Cimbrians  in  Italy,  the  wholesale  sacrifices 
among  warring  German  tribes,  and  the  direct  testi- 


if  I 


I 


460 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


mony  of  Tacitus,  who  gives  us  specific  cases  and  a 
general  summary.  Of  these  instances,  besides  some 
already  given,  we  may  note  the  visit  of  German icus 
to  the  battle-field  where  Varus  had  been  routed  with 
his  legions.^  "There  lay  broken  weapons,  limbs  of 
horses;  on  tree-trunks  hung  the  heads.  In  neigh- 
boring groves  were  the  barbarian  altars  whereon  they 
had  sacrificed  the  tribunes  and  centurions  of  the  first 
rank ; "  while  prisoners  who  had  escaped  the  fate  of 
that  terrible  day  point  out  to  Germanicus  how  many 
gallows  were  set  up  for  the  prisoners,  and  how  many 
pits  had  been  prepared.  These  pits  were  probably 
places  in  which  the  captives  were  buried  alive.  In 
the  Crermania,^  Tacitus  makes  some  general  state- 
ments, and  tells  us  that  on  "  certain  occasions "  ^ 
human  victims  are  offered  to  "  Mercury,"  while 
"Mars"  and  "Hercules"  must  content  themselves 
with  animals ;  and  in  the  passage  quoted  above,  he 
speaks  with  some  abhorrence  of  the  bloody  *  and 
barbarous  rites  of  the  grove  of  the  Semnones.  A 
chain  of  evidence  reaches  from  Tacitus  down  to  the 
borders  of  the  middle  ages.  In  the  fifth  century,  a 
king  of  the  Goths,  attacking  Italy,  vows,  if  he  shall 
be  favored  with  victory,  to  offer  the  conquered  Chris- 
tians to  his  god.  Jordanis,  in  his  history  of  the 
Goths,^  after  saying  that  the  race  was  so  famous,  men 
actually  believed  the  god  Mars  to  have  been  born 
among  them,  narrates  concerning  the  worship  of  this 
deity  that  prisoners  of  war  were  sacrificed  to  him  "  in 
the  belief  that  one  who  disposes  the  fortune  of  war 
ought  to  be  propitiated  by  human  blood."    Moreover, 


FORM   AND   CEREMONY 


461 


1  Ann.  I.  61.  2  ix.,  XXXIX. 

*  "  cresoqiie  publiee  liomine." 


8  Certis  diebns. 
6  Cap.  V. 


to  this  "  Mars  "  men  promised  a  part  of  the  booty, 
and  captured  weapons  were  hung  upon  trees  in  his 
honor.  Procopius  says  that  the  Franks,  in  the  year 
539,  after  they  had  crossed  the  Po  in  their  invasion 
of  Italy,  slew  the  women  and  children  of  the  Goths 
and  hurled  their  bodies  into  the  river  as  first  offer- 
ings of  the  war.  "  For,"  says  Procopius,  in  pious  and 
patriotic  horror,  "though  these  barbarians  have  be- 
come Christians,  they  still  keep  up  many  of  their 
heathen  customs,  such  as  human  sacrifice  and  other 
horrible  offerings.  .  .  ."  ^  The  Saxons,  says  the 
Roman  writer  Sidonius  Apollinaris,^  when  they  were 
about  to  leave  the  coast  of  Gaul  and  sail  for  home, 
sacrificed  the  tenth  part  of  their  captives,  —  with  tor- 
ture; and  this  is  confirmed  by  later  accounts.  We 
have  already  noted  a  law  of  the  heathen  Frisians  that 
whoso  broke  into  a  fane  or  sacred  place  should  be 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  whose  temples  (templa)  he  had 
violated.^  Dietmar  of  Merseburg  relates  that  every 
ninth  year  the  Danes  celebrated  a  great  festival  at 
Lethra,  their  chief  city,  early  in  January,  and  sacri- 
ficed ninety-nine  men  and  as  many  horses,  —  the 
"equi,  viri,"  of  Tacitus  once  more.  Adam  of  Bremen 
tells  of  the  sacrifice  of  men  made  at  Upsala  in  Sweden, 
and  of  the  corpses  hung  up  in  the  sacred  grove.'* 

However,  on  occasion,  "the  dearest"  could  mean 
more  than  any  of  these  things.  In  times  of  great  dis- 
tress, private  or  general,  in  sickness,  danger,  famine, 
pestilence,  the  alarm  might  rise  to  a  point  where  no 
alien  sacrifice  could  measure  the  height  of  calamity, 

1  Procop.  d.  bell.  Goth.  II.  25.  2  yill.  6. 

8  Lex  Fris.  add.  sap.  tit.  12.    Other  cases,  Richthofen,  II.  454  f. 

*  D.  M.  39  ft. ;  Adam  Br.  IV.  27. 


U 


462 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


463 


and  some  "  dearest "  thing  of  family  or  race  must  be 
offered  to  the  god.     Dearest  of  the  dearest  was  the 
king.     In  olden  times  the  sacrifice  of  the  first-born 
seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  common ;  and  sur- 
vivals meet  us  in  Scandinavian  legend,  where  the  old 
ferocity  lingered  longest.     Kings  offer  their  sons.    A 
certain  monarch,  in  order  to  secure  length  of  days, 
sacrifices  one  after  another  his  nine  sons  to  Odin.i 
In  a  time  of  famine,  the  Swedes  sacrificed  oxen  the 
first  year,  without  relief ;  then  they  took  men ;  but 
the  third  year  bringing  no  help,  they  offered  up  their 
king,  D5maldi.    In  the  Eervararsaga  ^  we  are  told  thq 
following  story  of  the  brave  but  evil-minded  Heid- 
rek:  "In  a  year  of  famine,  the  wise  men,  after  they 
had  made  a  sacrifice,  said  that  the  noblest  child  in 
the  land  would  have  to  be  offered.     Heidrek  prom- 
ised to  give  his  son  on  condition  that  every  alternate 
man  in  the  whole  population  should  swear  obedience 
to  him ;  but  with  this  great  army  he  attacked  King 
Harek  and  offered  him  and  his  men  to  Odin."     To 
be  sure,  this  was  niddingsvcerJc,  clear  treason;   but 
the  gods  were  apparently  satisfied.     P.  E.  Miiller, 
mentioning   the  story  that  King  Hakon  offered  up 
his  son,  refers  to  a  number  of  similar  cases.^     We 
have  elsewhere  occasion  to  note  the  custom  of  sacri- 
fice at  funerals,*  —  slave,  subject,  wife,  and  friend. 

The  usual  human  sacrifice,  however,  was  of  cap- 
tives, criminals,  or  slaves.     The  slaves  who  are  em- 

1  See  also  Ynglingatal,  in  C.  P.  B.  I.  247;  Tylor,  P.  C.  II.  403. 

2  P.  E.  MuUer,  Sagabibliothek,  II.  559  f .      «  Sagabibliothek,  III.  93. 
*  See  p.  319  f .    The  sacrifice  of  Odin  "  himself  to  himself  "  is  usually 

put  under  this  head ;  but,  in  spite  of  a  writer  in  P.  B.  Beitr.  Vol.  XV., 
I  think  the  arguments  of  Bugge  convincing  to  the  extent  of  regarding 
this  episode  as  an  imitation  of  the  Christian  account  of  the  crucifixion. 


ployed  about  the  grove  of  Nerthus,  Tacitus  reminds 
us,  are  drowned  in  the  lake  ;  and  the  Roman's  reason 
of  secrecy  is  quite  fanciful.  It  was  probably  an 
ordinary  sacrifice.  In  the  same  way,  when  Alaric 
died  and  was  buried  in  the  Italian  river-bed,  such 
slaves  as  did  the  work  were  killed.^  The  execution 
of  a  criminal  was  originally  a  sacrifice  to  the  god 
whose  peculiar  cult  had  been  offended  by  the  crime 
in  question.  Boundaries,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
sacred  places ;  and  thither  criminals  were  brought  for 
execution.2 

Everywhere  survivals  meet  us  based  on  the  notion 
that  a  human  life  must  be  sacrificed  at  the  beginning 
of  any  important  piece  of  work.    We  have  seen  what 
the  Franks,  converted  as  they  were,  thought  neces- 
sary before  they  crossed  the  Po  in  their  invasion  of 
Italy.      The   Vikings   of    Scandinavia,  when    they 
launched  a  new  ship,  would  bind  a  victim  to  the 
"rollers"  on  which  the  vessel  slipped  into  the  sea,  and 
thus  redden  the  keel  with  sacrificial  blood.^     That 
the  doctrine  of  souls  and  manes-cult  generally  played 
its  part  in  many  of  these  rites,  is  quite  beyond  ques- 
tion.   Lippert  relates  ^  the  story  of  a  king  of  Siam 
who  had  built  a  new  gate.     He  chose  three  men,  set 
before  them  a  sumptuous  meal,  gave  them  peculiar 
instructions  about  their  ghostly  watch  by  the  gate, 
and  forthwith  had  them  beheaded  and  walled  into 
the  new  structure.^     A  modern  shudder  is  all  very 

1  Jordan.  29;  and  Hehn,  p.  443. 

Cllw'vw*"'"  ^''"'"-'•<"''  C-  P-  B.  I.  «0,  ref.  II.  349.    See  word  in 
l^leasby-Vigfusson  Lex.  <  O  K  K  p  457 

secon^dlir  T^'T'^'  '^^^"^^  ^-  ^-  '•  ^^  '•  *>"»'  note  1.    I  quote  the 
second  ed.,  London,  1873. 


464 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


well ;  but  in  1843  when  a  new  bridge  was  to  be  built 
at  Halle,  the  good  folk  vainly  insisted  that  a  child 
ought  to  be  walled  into  it  in  order  to  insure  good 
luck.^  Legends  are  told  of  children  who  were  thus 
sacrificed;  and  we  hear  of  music  to  drown  their 
cries,  and  caresses  to  soothe  them  in  their  last 
moments,  that  their  angry  spirits  might  not  harbor 
spite  against  the  survivors. 

The  horror  of  these  things  shades  away,  under 
Christian  influence,  into  many  a  harmless  supersti- 
tion ;  2  a  lamb  is  built  into  the  altar  of  a  Danish 
church,  a  chicken  is  forced  to  run  first  over  a  new 
bridge  and  is  then  killed,  and  even  in  our  own  day 
it  is  best  to  send  cat  or  dog  into  one's  new  house, 
before  a  member  of  the  family  enter.  A  gingerbread 
horse,  eaten  at  a  given  time,  replaces  the  sacrifice ; 
and  even  the  harmless  bottle  of  champagne  broken 
over  the  bow  of  a  new-launched  ship  is  not  without 
relation  to  that  victim  once  bound  to  the  rollers  of 
a  Viking  launch. 

Some  account  of  the  details  of  human  sacrifice  is 
preserved  to  us  from  Scandinavian  heathendom.  Ari, 
born  in  1067,  was  as  near  to  the  old  Scandinavian 
rites  as  Beda  was  to  the  Anglo-Saxon,^  —  about 
seventy  years  from  the  arrival  of  the  first  Christian 
missionary.  The  altar,  he  tells  us,  was  of  stone,  and 
had  to  be  kept  red  and  gleaming  with  sacrificial 
blood.  "There  is  still  to  be  seen  the  doom-ring 
wherein  men  were  doomed  to  sacrifice.  Inside  the 
ring  stands  Thor's   stone  whereon  those  men  who 

1  D.  M.  956.  2  Ibid.  956  ff. ;  Simrock,  Mythol.  508. 

8  This  remark,  and  the  quotation,  are  taken  from  C.  P.  B.  I.  403. 
See  also  Petersen,  26  ff . 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


465 


were  kept  for  the  sacrifice  had  their  backs  broken, 
and  the  blood  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  stone."  The 
blood  was  caught  in  kettles,  and  in  old  times  may 
have  been  mixed  with  the  beer  or  other  drink  of  the 
assembly ;  sometimes  it  was  baked  in  bread  or  cakes. 
The  "  kettles  "  were  also  used  for  boiling  the  flesh 
of  cattle  and  similar  offerings ;  and  Grimm  mentions 
the  witches'  kettle  of  later  times.  A  homely  super- 
stition makes  such  a  witches'  kettle  out  of  that  re- 
flection of  a  fire  or  a  light  which  one  sees  through 
the  window :  — 

Under  the  tree, 
When  fire  out  doors  burns  merrily, 
There  the  witches  are  making  tea.^ 

Finally, —  putting  aside  the  hideous  hints  of  can- 
nibalism which  ethnology  thrusts  upon  us,  —  we  must 
assume  that  the  modern  banquet,  dinner,  collation, 
whatever  savor  of  food  or  drink  is  deemed  indispen- 
sable for  the  beginning  of  any  scheme,  the  welcome 
or  despatching  of  any  great  personage,  the  celebra- 
tion of  any  event,  —  all  go  back  to  the  sacrificial  feast. 
A  fair  measure  of  "  heathendom  "  lurks  in  everybody, 
—  not  to  speak  of  certain  other  instincts  familiar  to 
the  savage  mind. 

Such  were  the  gifts  and  fees  which  immortals  had 
of  man ;  in  return  they  were  expected  to  give  him 
not  only  present  help,  but  counsel  and  warning  for 
the  future,  and  this  in  oracular  answer  to  his  query. 
Much  has  been  said  already,  in  an  incidental  fashion, 
of  the  heathen  ways  of  divination  and  auguries;  a 
few  words  must  be  added,  in  this  place,  with  regard 

1  Whittier,  Snowbound. 


i\ 


466 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


467 


^1 
1^ 


to  the  distinctly  religious  ceremony.  Casting  lots 
was  an  appeal  to  the  gods,  and  was  carried  into  the 
daily  round  of  life,  being  as  applicable  to  the  merest 
domestic  details  as  to  the  greater  problems.  As  re- 
gards the  latter,  tradition  tells  us  that  our  forefathers 
in  their  German  home  cast  lots  to  see  what  part  of 
the  crowded  population  should  emigrate  to  Britain. 
Says  one  of  them :  — 

In  our  fatherland 

are  curious  customs. 

Every  fifteen  years 

is  the  folk  assembled,  .  .  . 

and  lots  are  thrown  then. 

On  whom  they  fall 

he  shall  fare  from  the  land. 

Five  shall  linger ; 

the  sixth  shall  leave, 

out  from  his  kin 

to  a  land  he  kens  not.i 

Further  back  in  the  history  of  our  race,  we  meet  an 
authentic  instance  of  the  ceremony,  preserved  by  the 
pen  of  Caesar.  While  Ariovistus  and  his  army  lay  in 
camp,  Caesar  sent  to  him  certain  envoys,  C.  Valerius 
Procillus  and  M.  Mettius,  to  learn  his  intentions. 
But  as  they  entered  the  camp  of  the  German  leader, 
he  called  out  before  all  his  host,  and  asked  what 
the  strangers  had  in  view,  — if  they  were  come  to 
spy  ?  Scarcely  had  they  begun  to  answer,  when  he 
ordered  them  to  be  flung  in  chains.  After  this,  Csesar 
offered  battle  daily,  but  Ariovistus  would  not  respond 
except  by  skirmishes.  Asking  certain  German  pris- 
oners  the  cause  of  this  delay,  Caesar  was  told  that  the 

1  Layamon's  Brut,  Ms.  Cot.  Cal.  13,  654  fif. 


women  had  declared,  as  result  of  the  lots  and  divina- 
tion, that  if  Ariovistus  hoped  for  victory  he  must  not 
give  battle  before  the  new  moon.  Caesar  forced  a  bat- 
tle, and  won  it.  The  envoy  Procillus,  whom  the  Ger- 
mans were  carrying  away  in  their  flight,  broke  from 
his  captors,  and  meeting  Caesar,  told  of  a  perilous 
sojourn  in  the  barbarian  camp.  Thrice  the  lots  had 
been  cast  in  his  presence  to  determine  whether  he 
should  be  put  to  death  by  fire,  or  kept  until  another 
occasion ;  and  each  time  the  lots  were  in  his  favor.i 
It  is  important  to  note  that  here,  as  among  the  Cim- 
brians,  women  —  matresfamilias  —  determine  and  an- 
nounce the  decree  of  fate. 

Most  valuable  is  the  information  given  us  by  Tac- 
itus in  regard  to  the  process  itself.  Blocks  are  cut 
from  the  wood  of  a  fruit-bearing  tree,  — one  may 
think  of  the  beech,^  —  marked  with  certain  signs 
(notce),  and  scattered  at  random  on  a  white  ^  cloth ; 
then  they  are  picked  up  —  that  is,  three  of  them,  one' 
by  one  —  by  the  state-priest  or  by  the  father  of  the 
family,  according  as  the  ceremony  is  public  or  private, 
and  the  marks  are  interpreted.  This  interpretation 
gives  a  favorable  or  unfavorable  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion.* Tacitus  goes  on  to  say  that  the  noise  and 
flight  of  birds  are  used  here  for  divination  as  in  other 

1  Caes.  B.  G,  I.  47-54.  The  same  story  is  told  of  S.  Willehad,  who 
preached  to  the  heathen  Frisians  in  the  eighth  century.  Lots  were 
cast  to  decide  whether  he  was  to  be  punished  by  death  or  to  be  set  free. 
On  Heligoland,  S.  WiUebrord  had  a  like  experience.  Richthofen,  Fries, 
Rechts(jesch.  II.  375,  401. 

2  The  traditional  etymology  of  *'  book  "  from  "  beech  "  has  been 
called  m  question.    See  Sievers  in  Paul's  Grdr.  I.  241. 

^  The  color  is  to  be  noted. 

^^J^erm.  C.  10.    Similar  rites,  partly  Christianized,  abound  in  the 
middle  ages.    See  Richthofen,  Fries.  Rechtsges.  II.  451. 


468 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


countries ;  but  peculiar  to  Germany  is  the  custom  of 
divining  by  means  of  horses,  which  are  kept  at  public 
cost  in  the  groves,  and  must  be  of  snow-white  color 
as  well  as  spared  from  all  ordinary  work.  When 
they  draw  the  sacred  chariot,  either  the  king  or  the 
prince,  along  with  the  priest,  accompanies  them  and 
marks  the  manner  of  their  neighings.  As  yet  another 
means  of  divination,  the  duel  is  mentioned  which 
serves  as  a  sign  of  the  outcome  of  battle.^ 

Returning  to  the  bits  of  wood  and  the  white  cloth, 
we  ask  whether  these  mysterious  marks  (notce)  were, 
as  scholars  have  assumed,  the  runes  of  which  we  hear 
and  see  so  much  in  later  times.  Wimmer,  in  his 
great  work  on  runes,^  has  shown  that  we  have  to  deal 
with  an  imported  alphabet,  based  on  the  Latin  of  the 
empire,  and  introduced  into  Germany  about  the  end 
of  the  second  century  of  our  era.  This  would  ex- 
clude the  time  of  which  Tacitus  is  writing.  But  it 
is  quite  possible  that  certain  signs  were  in  vogue 
among  the  Germans,  imported  from  Roman  or  other 
neighbors  and  used  purely  for  these  purposes  of  divina- 
tion ;  possible,  too,  that  certain  originally  Germanic 
signs,  rude  pictures,  or  what  not,  which  were  called 
runes,  were  afterwards  discarded  for  the  wonderful 
Roman  symbols.  Indeed,  as  Sievers  says,^  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  Roman  alphabet  was  used  in  this 
hieratic  fashion  as  early  as  the  time  of  Tacitus. 
Roman  coins  were  familiar  enough ;  and  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  "  rune  *'  means  the  same  as  "  mystery." 

The  runes  were  cut  —  "  written  "  —  in  the  wood, 

1  See  above,  p.  184. 

2  The  German  edition,  1887,  contains  the  author's  latest  corrections. 
8  Paul's  Grdr.  I.  239. 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY 


469 


and  in  the  first  instance  have  a  magic  signification. 
We  are  told  that  the  Alans  used  twigs  which  they 
marked   with  incantations ;  ^   and  ample  evidence  is 
forthcoming  for  Germanic  tribes,  especially  in  Scan- 
dinavia.    Mullenhoff  ^  explained  the  process  of  divi- 
nation by  the  fact  that  these  runes  were  symbols  of 
initial  sounds,  and  it  was  the  business  of  the  priest 
to  make  out  of  his  runes  an  alliterating  verse  which 
gave  answer  to  the  question  of  the  hour.     An  Anglo- 
Saxon  gloss  translates  sortilegus  by  tanUyta?  where 
tan  is,  of  course,  the  "  twig  "  of  wood  which  Tacitus 
describes.     But  as  the  use  of  runes  increased,  they 
were  carved  on  objects  with  the  idea  of  an  enduring 
magic,  as  upon  the  sword  which  should  thus  make 
the  wound  it  gave  a  mortal  one  ;  or  in  different  pur- 
pose, another  inscription  on  a  hostile  sword  would 
cause  it  to  lose  all  virtue  of  destruction.^ 

These  magic  processes  were  forbidden  by  the  church, 
and,  coming  thus  under  ban,  laid  the  foundations 
of  witchcraft  and  the  black  art  generally.  Enchanted 
cup  and  potion  played  a  great  part.  It  is  significant 
that  when  ^Ifric  translates  portions  of  the  Bible  into 
his  native  tongue,  he  omits  that  verse  in  the  story  of 
Joseph  which  points  to  divination  on  the  part  of  the 
hero.^  Sometimes,  however,  the  church  allowed  a 
harmless  substitution,  as  when  a  leechdom  directs  the 
peasant  how  to  cure  his  cattle.    "  Take  two  four-edged 

1  Amm.  Marc.  31,  2. 

2  In  Zur  Runenlehre,  Halle,  1852,  by  himself  and  R.  v.  Liliencron. 
8  Wright-Wulker,  Col.  189. 

See  C.  P.  B.  II.  704.    For  women  as  workers  of  runes,  see  Wacker- 
nagel-Martin,  Ges.  deutsch.  Lit.  1. 14  and  notes.    For  the  whole  subject, 
see  Odin's  Magic  Lay,  and  Norse  literature  passim. 
^  Genesis,  xliv.  4. 


: 


Ff 


i 
li 

i. 


\f 


470 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


sticks  " — evidently  the  old  rite  —  "  and  write  on  either 
stick,  on  each  edge,  the  paternoster  to  the  end.  .  .  .  "  i 
Saints'  names,  as  was  shown  by  the  charm  for  barren 
fields,  were  used  for  a  similar  purpose.     Parallel  to 
the  course  from  coaxing  processes  into  modern  magic, 
runs  the  path  by  which  the  old  hostile  incantation 
was  developed  into  the  dreaded  "  curse  "  of  mediaeval 
superstition.     A  curse  which  is  meant  to  cut  off  the 
sufferer  from  all  joys  and  privileges  of  life  is  pre- 
served in  Norse   poetry,  where  the  maiden  Gerthr, 
beloved  of  Freyr,  at  first  rejects  his  embassy  of  love, 
and  is  threatened  with  dire  calamities ;  if  she  will  not 
send  the  wished  reply,  then  may  so-and-so  happen. 
Frightened  at  the  sweep  of  this  Ernulphian  terror, 
the  maid  relents.^     It  would  be  of  infinite  value  to 
the  historian  if  he  could  win  back  the  popular  litera- 
ture of  England  in  the  time  of  conversion  and  the 
early  days  of  the  church.     It  is  recorded  of  Dunstan 
that  "  he  loved  the  vain  songs  of  ancient  heathendom, 
the  trifling  legends,  the  funeral  chants";  and  it  is 
said  that  he  was  accused  of  "sorcery."     What  we 
call  "sorcery,"  the  charming  of  person,  of  weapon, 
of   place,  the  spell  which  brought  ruin  to  all  that 
touched  the  accursed  object,  —  like  the  famous  gold 
of  the  Nibelungs,  —  all  this  must  have  lain  heavily 
on  Germanic  life.     In  what  race  has  not  the  same 
period  of  development  found  itself  clogged  with  this 
weight  of  superstition  ? 

The  chant,  or  singing,  which  lingers  in  these 
names  of  charm  and  incantation,  is  certainly  a  relic 
of  the  old  choral  ceremony  about  a  heathen  altar. 
Poetry  begins   as   handmaid    of    religion,   and    the 


Cockayne,  I.  387. 


2  Skirnismdly  25  fif. 


FORM  AND  CEREMONY  471 

rhythmic  element  lives  yet  in  our  commonest  sur- 
vivals,-as  when  children  determine  who  shall  be 
the  mysterious  "  It "  of  a  game.     So  the   son^  or 
even  the  murmur  of  sorcery ;  so  the  "  backward  mut- 
ter  of  dissevering  power  "  to  undo  the  operation  of 
magic  Itself.     If  we  could  only  trace  aright  histori- 
cal  connections,  we  should   find   everywhere  about 
us,  imbedded  in  custom  or  tradition,  the  shards  of 
our  broken  heathendom.     Of  these,  the  saddest  to 
study  are  those  that  come  under  the  head  of  witch- 
craft,-a  subject  that  lies  quite  aside  from  our  pres- 
ent  purposes.  ^ 


472 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


THE  HIGHER  MOOD 


473 


CHAPTER  XVI 


THE  HIGHER  MOOD 


Public  and  private  standard  of  morals  —  Ideals  of  the  race  — 
^Esthetics  —  Germanic  faith  —  Notions  about  a  future  life  —  Con- 
clusion. 

Conduct  is  of  prime  importance  in  any  modern 
notion  of  religion,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  conduct  of 
each  individual.  Early  religion  looks  to  the  conduct 
of  a  tribe  or  race  in  its  relation  to  ancestral  spirits  or 
protecting  gods  ;  grave  and  altar  must  be  served  after 
the  established  form.  So,  too,  the  family  must,  as 
a  family,  observe  the  rites  of  traditional  cult.  Stand- 
ards of  conduct  for  persons  would  therefore  take  this 
collective  and  formal  character,  and  the  ideal  virtues 
of  our  forefathers  must  have  followed  the  same  broad 
way. 

To  be  sure,  this  statement  will  not  go  unchal- 
lenged. Professor  Robertson  Smith,  in  his  book  on 
Early  Semitic  Religion^  assumes  not  the  family,  but 
the  kin  as  social  unit,  and  says  that  the  earliest 
kin-bond  was  maternal.  Hence  was  developed  the 
origin  of  personal  ethics ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
religion  itself  "  arose  out  of  a  perception  of  the  rela- 

1  Unfortunately,  only  a  summary  can  be  used  here,  taken  from  The 
Spectator  for  October  11,  1890. 


tions  of  the  community  to  its  environment  animate 
and  inanimate  " ;  nor  was  it  originally  "a  trembling 
worship  of  dismal  and  malevolent  deities,"  but  rather 
was  addressed  to  friendly  gods. 

However  all  this  may  be,  a  study  of  Germanic  tradi- 
tions and  literature  will  show  us  that  such  scheme  of 
ethics  as  our  ancestors  possessed  was  what  we  have 
supposed  would  naturally  result  from  a  state  founded 
on  the  family  basis.     Of  this  foundation  we  have  abun- 
dant evidence ;  and  the  ethical  system  is  in  full  har- 
mony with  the  constitution  of  the  state.     The  heroic 
legends  of  Germany  will  help  us  in  this  respect;  for 
here  shine  in  a  setting  of  poetry  the  ideals  of  the  race 
Itself.     Poetry  gives  us  just  the  necessary  mixture  of 
imagination  working  in  lines  laid  down  by  the  devel- 
opment of  the  race,  and  facts  which  are  taken  from 
the  records  of  its  best  moments.     Hence  the  ideal 
virtues  in  the  ideal  figures  of  the  song.     Such  is  the 
view  of  Uhland  in  his  valuable  researches ;  i  and  with 
this  purpose  we  examine  the  records.     As  most  con- 
spicuous  among  the  private  virtues  we  find  gener- 
osity,    hospitality,^  and   chastity.     Chastity  is   emi- 
nently  an  individual  virtue ;  but  a  moment's  reflec- 
tion will  show  that  it  is  absolutely  bound  up  with 
the   prosperity   of    such    a    family   life    as    Tacitus 
describes  to  us.     As  the  standing  reproach  of  a  man 
IS  cowardice,  so  we  find  that  when  women  are  reviled, 
like  the  goddesses  in  the  Lokasenna,  it  is  for  unchas- 
tity.     The  actual  evidence  for  the  virtue  of  Germanic 

2  f^-f ^^'•-  I;  211  ff.  may  be  found  a  succinct  statement  of  his  views. 

accoimtrTf  .r^ri'^^5  combined  with  sense  of  national  honor,  see  the 

of  C  ni  ^'^^'  ""^^  '"^'^'"^  *^  S^^«  "P  *  ^««t  at  the  command 

Of  Justmian,  and  so  went  to  certain  ruin.    See  also  Dahn,  Urgeschichte 
d.  germ,  und  rom,  Volker,  I.  39.  ^rgescmcnte 


ri 


474 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


women  is  strong,  and  has  been  discussed  above ;  for 
manly  purity,  as  well  as  the  innocent  frankness  which 
governed  the  relations  of  younger  men  and  women, 
Caesar  gives  some  valuable  testimony.  Along  with 
this  must  go  the  fact  that  indecency  has  almost 
no  footing  whatever  in  Germanic  literature  of  the 
heathen  type.^  When  obscenities  occur,  they  are  put 
in  the  mouth  of  giants,  uncouth,  raw,  and  despicable 
creatures.  Some  of  this  freedom  from  indecency,  in- 
deed, may  go  to  the  credit  of  monkish  scribes ;  but 
not  all  of  it.  A  stern  purity,  native  and  rough,  is 
the  note  of  old  Germanic  song. 

Softness  of  temper  was  not  a  Germanic  virtue. 
Beowulf  is  extraordinarily  mild  and  patient,  as  befits 
a  hero-god  of  such  sunny  origins ;  but  much  nearer 
to  the  Germanic  heart  was  Thor,  "  impiger,  iracun- 
dus,  inexorabilis,  acer,"  with  those  knuckles  whiten- 
ing as  he  grasps  the  hammer  in  rage,  —  a  touch  that 
mightily  pleased  Carlyle.  We  therefore  exclude  pa- 
tience from  our  eulogy,  but  all  the  more  strenuously 
may  we  insist  upon  Germanic  loyalty  and  faithful- 
ness. Germanic  family-life,  as  Uhland  remarks,^  had 
two  periods.  First  is  the  settled  or  partly  settled  life 
described  by  Tacitus ;  the  group  of  buildings  by  and 
for  themselves,  isolated,  the  abode  of  a  single  family 
or  minor  clan.  Second  is  the  artificial  family  of  the 
period  of  conquest,  the  chieftain  and  his  followers 
forming  a  new  relation.  In  both  cases,  however,  loy- 
alty is  the  cardinal  virtue.  We  have  seen  above  how 
stern  were  the  demands  upon  this  loyalty  in  the  case 
of  blood-relationship,  and  how  equally  binding  was 

1  See  Literaturblatt  f.  germ,  und  rom,  Phil.,  February,  1891,  sp.  47. 
a  KL  Schr.  I.  214  ff . 


THE   HIGHER  MOOD 


475 


the  obligation  when  leader  and  vassal  took  the  place 
of  kin  and  kin.i     Loyalty  is  the  key-note  of  Germanic 
life  and  Germanic  virtue ;  but  it  is  a  collective  rather 
than  an  individual  characteristic,  and  expresses  itself 
in  literature  not  by  sharply  drawn  men  and  women, 
but  by  types.     Not  only  do  we  miss  the  devotion  of 
mediaeval  chivalry  and  the  tenderness  of  modern  love, 
but  even  the  charms  of  friendship  find  no  room  in 
hearts  filled  with  the  obligations  of  the  warrior  and 
the  clansman ;  Germanic  traditions  tell  us  no  tale  of 
Orestes  and  Pylades.     So,  too,  with  the  other  graces 
of  life.     The  remorseless  strain  and  struggle  of  that 
time  left  little  or  no  leisure,  even  if  they  had  found 
the  desire,  for  one  to  cultivate  the  sense  of  beauty 
or  any  other  of  those  feelings  which  we  comprehend 
under  the  modern  name  of  aesthetics.     Crude  forms 
of  art,  like  the  paint  upon  a  house  or  the  woven  lines 
of  an  arm-ring,  incipient  adornment  of  person  or  of 
weapon,  —  these  the  German  knew ;  but  the  sense  of 
quiet  beauty  was  foreign  to  his  mind.     In  his  poetry, 
in  those  kennings  which  gave  him  almost  his  only 
chance  for  description,  we  get  a  few  glimpses  at  the 
nature  which  surrounded  him ;  but  it  is  the  dash  of 
waves,  the  hiss  of  hail  and  snow  upon  a  wintry  ocean, 
howl  of  wind  and  storm,  sweep  of  huge  bird  of  prey 
hovering  "  dewy-feathered  "  in  the  air  and  eager  for 
carrion,  —  battle-pieces,  we   must  call  them,  but  no 
still-hfe  at  all.     Save  in  one  timid  and  perhaps  inter- 
polated picture  of  a  sunny  landscape,  the  quiet  which 
reigns  in  the   Germanic  description  of  nature  is  a 
quiet  of  desolation.     Such  is  the  powerful  passage  in 

1  "  Die  Treue,  der  Grundtrieb  des  germanischeu  Lebens."    Uhland. 
p.  221.  ' 


476 


GERMANIC  ORIGINS 


which  Hrothgar  describes  to  Beowulf  the  haunt  of 

Grendel,^  — 

a  dismal  land, 
wolf-haunted  cliffs  and  windy  headlands, 
fen-ways  fearful,  where  flows  the  stream 
from  mountains  gliding  'neath  gloom  of  the  rocks, 
underground  flood.     Not  far  is  it  hence, 
by  measure  of  miles,  tliat  the  mere  expands, 
and  o'er  it  the  frost-bound  forest  hanging, 
sturdily  rooted,  o'ershadows  the  wave. 
In  the  dark  of  night  is  a  dread  to  see, 
fire  on  the  waters :  no  wight  so  brave 
of  the  sons  of  men  who  will  search  that  flood  I 
Nay,  though  the  heath-pacer,  harried  by  dogs, 
the  horned  stag,  this  holt  should  seek, 
by  hounds  far  driven,  —  his  dear  life  here, 
on  the  brink  he  yields  ere  he  braves  the  plunge 
in  those  dismal  waters ! 


Moreover,  the  placid  beauty  of  harvest  seems  to 
have  been  as  unfamiliar  as  the  fruits  which  it  is 
meant  to  bring;  "they  know,"  says  Tacitus,  "as 
little  of  the  name  as  of  the  bounties  of  Autumn." 
Vernon  Lee,  in  her  Uuphorion,^  points  out  that  this 
ignoring  of  autumnal  beauty  continued  through  the 
middle  ages,  despite  their  extravagant  and  ceaseless 
laud  of  spring:  "Of  autumn  ...  of  the  standing 
corn,  the  ripening  fruit  of  summer,  .  .  .  the  middle 
ages  seem  to  know  nothing."  But  we  must  return 
to  our  study  of  Germanic  ethics. 

As  we  approach  modern  times,  the  primitive 
ideals,  while  not  removed,  are  changed.  The  heroic 
stature  is  lost,  and  we  begin  to  meet  maxims  of 
prudence,  bits  of  shrewd  advice,  canny  standards  of 


1  B^oio.  1357  ff. 


2  I.  119. 


THE   HIGHER  MOOD 


477 


action  where  the  right  is  the  practical.  Even  impul- 
sive Scandinavia  shows  tliis.  Maurer,  in  his  well- 
known  work,^  gives  a  summary  of  Norse  ethics  in  the 
heathen  age.  He  finds  on  the  one  hand  prudence, 
shrewdness,  every-day  wisdom ;  on  the  other,  a  sense 
of  duty  and  the  necessity  of  following  this  line  irre- 
spective of  consequences.  Maxims  of  life  begin  to 
meet  us,  even  in  this  period,  of  a  character  surpris- 
ingly like  the  philosophical  wisdom  of  the  middle 
ages,  with  its  passion  for  the  golden  mean.  Pru- 
dence is  extolled  with  the  fervor  of  a  Juvenal. 
Keep  the  "  mean  "  ;  avoid  gluttony  and  drunkenness 
(a  parlous  reference)  ;  trust  not  in  riches ;  do  not  talk 
with  fools ;  never  confide  in  women ;  ^  and  above  all, 
remember  that  nothing  can  turn  aside  the  weapon  of 
fate.  Vengeance  is  a  religion,  and  human  suffering 
excites  little  pity;  it  was  treachery  that  called  for 
actual  disgrace  and  blame.  Cruelty  was  not  so  bad 
if  it  were  only  open ;  although  the  fearful  scenes  at 
the  court  of  Ermanric,  so  famous  in  our  old  heroic 
legends,  seem  to  have  roused  a  shudder  in  all  Ger- 
manic bosoms.  The  little  poem  about  D^or,  our  old- 
est English  lyric,  speaks  of  Ermanric's  "wolfish" 
disposition.  The  sneak,  the  secret  foe,  is  detestable ; 
and  hidden  treachery  is  crime  of  crimes.  Steal  if 
you  can  and  must;  but  steal  openly.  Generosity 
and  hospitality  are,  of  course,  cardinal  virtues.  Most 
important  of  all,  we  must  note  that  these  various 
virtues  stand  in  almost  no  connection  with  the  re- 

1  Bek.  d.  Norw.  St.  II.  148  ff.  Gnomic  poetry  was  very  popular  in 
Germanic  literature,  and  is  evidently  based  on  old  traditions.  Several 
poems  of  the  sort  are  to  be  found  in  Norse  and  Anglo-Saxon. 

'^  Havamdl,  83-89.  Mostly,  as  Meyer  remarks  (Altgerm.  Poesie, 
p.  44),  the  Gnomic  poetry  describes  rather  than  commands. 


478 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE   HIGHER  MOOD 


479 


ligion  of  the  day,  which  was  a  matter  of  ceremony 
and  ritual.^ 

What  has  been  said  of  Norse  ethics  will  largely 
apply  to  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors.  As  time  goes 
on,  our  laws  betray  the  increase  of  that  sense  for 
practical  things  and  that  thrifty  independence  which 
have  clung  to  the  Englishman  everywhere.  To  mend 
bridges  and  roads,  to  pay  taxes,  to  fight  in  the 
militia,  to  be  allowed  to  rule  unimpeded  over  his 
private  affairs,  —  this  standard  of  duty  develops 
itself  early  in  English  history.  For  the  more  per- 
sonal side  of  ethics,  it  is  under  Christian  influences 
that  we  get  our  first  full  view  of  the  Englishman; 
nevertheless,  if  the  tender  shoot  is  to  be  judged  by 
the  sturdy  tree,  the  story  of  such  a  man  as  King 
Alfred  is  enough  to  shed  back  a  flood  of  light  and 
praise  upon  the  earliest  growth  of  English  char- 
acter. 

Aside  from  ethics  proper,  there  was  a  decided  vein 
of  philosophy  in  the  old  Germanic  temperament. 
The  German  loved  to  moralize,  to  point  out  the 
ways  of  fate,  to  summarize  existence ;  after  his  rude 
fashion  he  made  epigrams,  and  these  strung  to- 
gether in  poetical  form^  were  doubtless  a  favorite 
department  of  his  literature.  Such  a  recitation, 
by  some  graver  minstrel,  took  the  place  of  a  later 
court-sermon. 

When  restraint  of  human  passion,  or  extraordinary 
effort  of  human  will,  is  to  be  obtained,  ethics  must 

1  Maurer,  II.  188. 

2  With  crHical  reserve  we  may  consider  in  this  light  the  so-called 
"  Sermon  "  of  Hrothgar  in  Beowulf,  as  well  as  the  poems  on  **  Man's 
Fate,"  **  Man's  Gifts,"  and  the  like,  to  be  found  in  Grein's  Bibliothek 
d.  Af/s.  Poesie. 


lean  more  or  less  upon  religious  sanctions;  and  on 
the  border-land  of  cult  and  myth  we  find  the  province 
of  belief  in  some  adjustment  of  human  history,  even 
in  some  scheme  of  reward  or  punishment,  expected 
in  a  life  to  come.     Much  of  this  belongs  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  soul-land,  elsewhere  treated.^    It  is  our 
place  to  look  at  the  wider  conception  of  a  continued 
responsibility  for  acts  of  this  life.     The  notion  of 
future    punishment    is    nowhere    sharply   defined; 2 
gloom   and   desolation   are  recognized  by  our  fore- 
fathers as  characteristic  of  HePs  kingdom,  but  it  is 
no  place  of  torture.     Dietrich,  indeed,  insisted   on 
the  Scandinavian  water-hell,  and  based  his  belief  on 
these  lines  of  the  sibyFs  prophecy  where  she  sees 
"a  hall  ...  by  the  corpse-strand,"  where  poison- 
drops  fall  through  the  roof  and  the  walls  are  made 
of  serpents'   backs;    and  where  she   sees,   "wading 
through  raging  streams  treacherous  men  and  murder- 
ous," and  the  wolf  tearing  men  asunder.     But  there 
are  strong  reasons  against  accepting  this  conclusion. 
For  a  general  objection,  it  may  be  urged  that  dualism 
is  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Germanic  heathendom ;  and 
that  evil  powei-s,  as  Jacob  Grimm  remarks,  are  not 
classified  and  set  in  order  against  the  powers  of  good. 
For  a  specific  reason,  we  may  call  in  question  the 
originality   of   the    quotation    just   made   from   the 
Voluspa.     Bugge  is  by  no  means  alone  in  his  attack, 
and  a  defence  by  Mullenhoff,  the  strongest  of  his 

^  See  p.  326  f. 

2  Maurer  denies  it  altogether  for  Scandinavian  heathendom.  Bek.  d. 
JVorw.  St.  II.  74.  That  "general  Germanic  belief"  in  the  end  of  the 
world  by  fire,  the  Muspelli,  is  now  asserted  by  Bugge  to  have  been 
imported  along  with  other  scraps  of  the  new  faith.  For  the  older  view, 
see  Mullenhoff,  Deutsche  Alterthumskunde,  V.  I.  GG  f. 


480 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


faith,  has  failed  to  convince  the  best  critics  that  in 
the  Voluspa  we  are  dealing  with  untainted  Germanic 
heathendom.  E.  H.  Meyer  in  his  book  on  this  sub- 
ject,^ has  come  to  conclusions  as  fatal  as  those  of 
Bugge.  So  we  are  forced  to  reject  this  part  of  the 
sibyl's  prophecy  from  our  notion  of  Germanic  faith. 
The  make-up  of  the  picture,  and  the  conception  of 
misery  as  united  with  darkness,  wet,  and  cold,  are 
undoubtedly  genuine;  but  the  moral  assumption  is 
not  so. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  our  ancestors,  like  their 
Aryan  kinsmen  the  world  over,  believed  in  an  under- 
world.2  The  literal  caves  of  the  dead  were  extended 
into  a  figurative  kingdom  of  the  dead,  the  realm  of 
Hel,  the  "  concealing  "  goddess.  Dark,  cheerless,  cold, 
this  was  no  place  of  torture.^  She  herself  is  relentless, 
and  gives  up  no  soul  that  once  enters  her  domain ; 
but  punishments  —  and  the  Germanic  mind  would 
have  been  quick  enough  to  heap  them  in  fullest 
measure,  had  they  belonged  to  the  conception  of  the 
place — are  nowhere  to  be  found.  So,  too,  with 
rewards.  Under  the  stress  of  Viking  life,  with  its 
ceaseless  brawls  and  revel,  its  courage  and  danger, 
grew  up  a  belief  which  has  been  sung  and  told  into 
a  system,  and  now  stands  in  most  people's  eyes  as 
the  corner-stone  of  old  Norse  faith,  —  the  belief  in 
that  Valhalla  whither  Odin's  maidens  led  the  slain, 
where  fight  and  feast  alternated  in  an  agreeable  per- 
spective down  the  future,  and  whither  no  thrall  or 
man  of  peace  might  win.     In  point  of  fact,  much  of 

1  Vdluspa,  Berlin,  1888. 

2  Schullerus,  Zur  Kritik  d.  ValhoUglaubens,  P.  B.  Beitr.  XII.  268. 
«  D.  M.  667. 


THE  HIGHER  MOOD 


481 


this  amiable  belief  is  of  foreign,  or  at  least  of  very 
late  origin.!  xhe  oldest  lays  of  the  Edda  know 
nothing  about  it ;  the  old  sagas  know  nothing  about 
it.2  It  is  a  strange  medley,  like  the  life  that  gave  it 
currency,  and  was  fashioned  into  its  present  shape  in 
the  ninth  or  tenth  century.  The  wandering  seamen 
and  warriors  brought  back  scraps  of  foreign  lore, 
incongruous  and  wonderful  bits  of  legend;  as  they 
told  their  tales,  huge  temples  or  churches  which 
they  had  actually  seen,  blended  in  memory  with 
half-understood  teachings  of  the  new  religion,  and 
all  was  set  in  the  Norse  framework,  Norse  verse, 
and  Norse  manner.  One  writer  goes  so  far  as  to 
say  that  the  Valhalla,  a  golden  hall  with  count- 
less doors  and  stately  outline,  is  a  loan  from  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John,  —  is  the  New  Jerusalem 
in  Scandinavian  disguise.^  One  suggestion,  how- 
ever, made  long  ago  by  Wilhelm  Miiller,*  deserves 
respectful  mention.  He  regards  Valhalla  as  the  type 
of  a  palace  where  earthly  kings  of  that  period  were 
wont  to  dwell,  surrounded  by  their  retainers.  In 
thij  new  Valhalla  would  be  a  "magnified  and  non- 
natural  "  Germanic  hall,  embellished  by  the  dazzled 
and  confused  fancy,  the  half-comprehended  world- 
lore,  of  the  Viking  age. 

But  let  us  go  back  to  our  primitive  German. 
What  faith  had  he  about  a  hereafter  ?  Vaguely,  — 
as  indeed  all  his  philosophy  lacked  sharp  defini- 
tions,—  the  German  believed  in  a  future  world  of 

1  Schullerus  and  H.  Petersen,  work  quoted,  p.  98  f . 

2  Schullerus,  p.  241. 

«  Schullerus,  p.  267.  He  assumes  oral  tradition,  not  book-lore,  as 
source  of  the  borrowing.  *  System,  p.  394, 


482 


GERMANIC   ORIGINS 


THE  HIGHER  MOOD 


483 


spirits.^  Of  his  own  doing  in  that  world  he  had  very 
dim  notions ;  his  care  during  life  was  to  soothe  and 
coax  his  future  fellow-citizens  who  had  gone  before 
him.  Without  talent  or  taste  for  introspection,  he 
nevertheless  began  in  the  earliest  moments  of  awak- 
ening thought  to  muse  about  the  issues  of  life  and 
death.  In  his  rough,  blundering  way,  he  doubtless 
did  what  De  Quincey  in  a  memorable  passage  de- 
clares all  men  must  do  who  think  at  all  about  these 
things,  —  he  must  have  held  "some  tranquillizing 
belief  as  to  the  future  balances  and  the  hieroglyphic 
meanings  of  human  suffering."  That  is  all  we  can 
say. 

In  speaking  of  Germanic  belief,  we  have  already 
crossed  that  border  which  separates  the  real  from  the 
ideal.  But  further  we  may  not  follow  our  ancestors 
into  the  ideal  world  which  every  active  and  aspiring 
race  has  fashioned,  —  the  world  of  poetry  and  legend 
and  myth.  Such  a  subject  demands  a  volume  for 
itself,  and  needs  to  be  studied  with  more  than  ordi- 
nary care.  So  far  as  explanation  and  interpretation 
are  concerned,  it  is  easy  to  make  the  shattered  relics 
of  Germanic  myth  tell  almost  any  tale  we  may  desire 
to  hear.  Inexorable  criticism  and  thorough  philo- 
logical knowledge  of  this  material,  joined  with  the 
insight,  imagination,  and  wide  comparative  glances 
of  a  master  of  literary  history,  are  indispensable  for 
the  man  who  at  this  late  hour  is  fain  to  tread  in  the 
path  marked  out  by  Jacob  Grimm  and  almost  untrod- 
den since  his  day.  Myth-mongers  there  have  been 
in  plenty,  —  men  with  "interpretations,"  who  will 

1  There  iff  no  doubt  of  this.  See  Miillenhoff,  Deutsche  Alterth.  V. 
1.69. 


tell  us  that  Norse  Idun  was  grass,  or  hay,  or  a  star, 
or  poetry;  but  men  who  sought  the  heart  of  Ger- 
manic myth  itself  have  not  appeared,  —  save  one. 
Irascible,  arrogant,  Miillenhoff  nevertheless  redeemed 
his  many  faults  by  dint  of  labor,  strength,  and  a 
rugged  loyalty  to  his  own  ideals.  He  was  of  the  old 
breed  of  scholars;  he  loved  poetry  as  well  as  para- 
digms; and  no  keener  or  more  loving  glance  than 
his  ever  sought  to  pierce  the  mist  of  our  Germanic 
origins. 


INDEX 


Adultery,  131, 138  f.,  160  f.,  169, 184, 
Africans,  162,  209,  ^7. 
Age,  199  f.,  204  f . 

Agriculture,  39  flf.,  46  ff.,  72.  129 
410. 

Alamannians,  19, 271,  292. 

Alaric,  7,  321,  463. 

Alboin,  7,  120,  196. 

Alderman,  278  f. 

Alfred,  44,  274,  478. 

Alliteration,  3,  24,  113,  194,  468. 

All-Souls,  6,  356. 

Altar,  441. 

Amazons,  133,  142  f . 

Amber,  11,  18,  84,  214. 

Ancestor-Worship,    137,  169,    171 
201,  313,   346  ff.,   366,  368,  370,' 
384,  404,  416,  420. 

Angles,  20,  25,  29. 

Ariovistus,  14,  466. 

Arminius,  10,  286. 

Armor,  253. 

Arthur,  190,  325,  380. 

Arval,  354. 

Aryans,  31  ff.,  61,  127. 

Assembly,  273,  291  ff.,  430. 

Attack,  see  Tactics. 

Attila,  26,  142,  332  f.,  351,  361. 


Baduhenna,  438,  441. 

Balder,  63,  323,  423,  438. 

Banishment,  171  f . 

Barbarism,  46,  80. 

Barrow,  310  f.,  317,  348. 

BastarnaB,  12. 

Batavians,  27,  265. 

Bathing,  59,  77  f.,  123,  356,  393,  397. 

Bavarians,  19,  271. 


I  Beauty,  65  f.,  476. 
Beda,  71,  104,  352. 
I  Beer,  71  f ,,  93,  103, 115,  454. 
Bees,  43  f. 
Belgium,  17. 
Berserker,  230. 
Blonde,  61  f. 
Blood,  175,  456. 

Blood-brotherhood,  173  40P 
Boar,  433.  '      " 

Boar's  head,  256. 

Boat,  see  Ship. 

Boniface,  38,  40,  388. 

Booty,  219. 

Boundaries,  54  f.,  312,  386,  463. 
Bower,  96,  99,  102. 
Bride,  see  Wife. 
Brittia,  327. 

Bronze  Age,  34,  48,  84,  209,  243. 

308. 
Burg,  99,  102  f . 
Burgundians,  19. 
Burial,  307  ff.,  322  f. 
Burning,  307  ff.,  316. 
Butter,  71. 
Byrhtnoth,  237  f.,  253. 


Caste,  62. 
Cat,  33,  435. 
Cattle,  41  f.,  207,  223. 
Cavalry,  254  f . 

Celt,  2  f .,  61,  72,  120,  124, 209, 343  £. 
Ceorl,  246,  280. 
Chant,  451,  470. 
Character,  16,  472  ff. 
Charlemagne,  28,  83,  126,  136. 
Charms,  45  f.,  350,  369,  373,  376. 
394,  399,  405  ff.,  423,  450,  470. 

485 


486 


INDEX 


Chastisement,  see  Punishments. 
Chastity,  134  f.,  159,  473  f. 
Chatti,  22,  29,  87,  91. 
Chauci,  22,  27  f.,  218,  220. 
Cheese  well,  70,  390. 
Cherusci,  29,  245,  272. 
Christianity,  8  if.,  17,  20,  133,  283, 

309,  331,  342  f . 
Christian-Latin  Literature,  9  f. 
Cimbrians,  13,  78,  245,  448. 
Cities,  90  f . 
Citizen,  226. 
Climate,  36,  56  f. 
Clothing,  78  ff.,  449  f. 
Clouds,  42. 
Coifi,  443. 
Cold,  36,  56,  66,  93. 
Color,  467,  475. 
Columbanus,  73. 
Comitatus,  261  ff.,  278,  474. 
Commerce,  11  f.,  211  ff.,  288,  432, 

449. 
Complexion,  63  f . 
Consciousness,  11. 
Conversion,  17, 19,  342. 
CorsnsBd,  70,  303. 
Courage,  58, 138,  227  ff. 
Cowardice,  239  f . 
Creed,  336  ff . 
Cult,  25,  42,  69,  73,  137,  171,  213, 

249,  278,  295,  336  ff.,  346, 409,  450, 

477  f. 
Culture,  32,  34,  205. 
Culture-hero,  49. 
Cup,  120. 
Curse,  470. 
Cymry,  13. 

Dance,  198,  359,  429,  451  f . 

Danes,  1,  20,  25,  27. 

Day,  293,  413. 

Dead,  see  Ancestor-Worship. 

Death,  199  ff.,  230  f.,  305,  329. 

Decoration,  97, 105,  474. 

Democracy,  271,  273,  291  f. 

Deor,  52  f . 

Dice,  123. 

Dis,  370. 

Divination,  see  Charms  and  Lots. 

Divorce,  138. 


Dog,  33,  71. 

Dower,  156  f . 

Dream,  122. 

Drinking,  74  ff.,  117,  120  f. 

Drusus,  15,  361. 

Dualism,  479. 

Dunstan,  470. 

Earl,  62,  278. 

Earth,  405  ff.,  408  f. 

Eclipse,  410. 

Education,  197  f.,  227. 

Elves,  37,  374,  378  ff.,  382. 

Emotion,  336. 

Engelland,  328. 

Erce,  408. 

Ermanric,  477. 

Ethics,  136,  336,  359,  472  f.,  477. 

Exogamy,  145  f. 

Exports,  213  ff . 

Exposure,  187  ff.,  325. 

Eyes,  58. 

Falconry,  124. 

Family,  162  ff.,  472,  passim. 

Fatalism,  235. 

Father,  168  ff.,  172,  185  ff. 

Feasts,  66  f.,  112  f.,  121  ff.,  357. 

Ferocity,  180,  230. 

Fetch,  362. 

Feud,  111,  179  ff. 

Finns,  31, 140. 

Fire,  96,  400,  456. 

Flet,  126  f . 

Flyting,  76,  114. 

Folk-Moot,  38,  273,  291  ff.,  361. 

Food,  66  ff. 

Forests,  35,  37,  382. 

Fosete,  438  f. 

Founders,  1. 

Fowls,  43. 

Framea,  250  f. 

Franks,  16,  19,  29,  130,  181,  244, 

264,  271,  290,  300,  461. 
Freedman,  282  f. 
Freedom,  28,  285. 
Freeman,  153,  280  f.,  301. 
Freyja,  89,  431,  435. 
Freyr,  19,  66,  156.  216,  419,  430  ff., 

447. 


INDEX 


487 


Friendship,!  475. 
Frigg,  435  f . 

Frisians,  19,  25,  27,  68, 185,  297,  330. 

415,  461. 
Fruits,  51,  67. 
Funeral,  306  ff.,  329  f.,  358  f. 


GambUng,  123. 

Games,  123,  198,  331  f.,  429. 

Geography,  20  f.,  25  f.,  30. 

Germania,  20  ff.,  passim. 

Germanic,  2  ff.,  5,  passim. 
Germanicus,  15,  242,  460. 
Germans,  12,  22  f.,  30,  57,  65,  pas- 
sim. 
Gerthr,  66,  470. 
Giants,  243,  397,  474. 
Gifts,  165  ff.,  173,  193. 
Gilpcwide,  76. 
Gods,  342,  374,  416  ff. 
Gold,  84  ff.,  105,  444. 
Goldsmith,  210  f . 
Goths,  19,  64, 131, 197, 201,  203,  296, 

Graves,  107,  149,  313  f.,  348,  353, 
442. 

Gudrun,  55,  302. 
Guests,  165  f . 
Gunnar,  231. 


^e7m„rf,  41,  89,  171,  228,  p(M«,m. 
Wenotheism,  417. 

Heraldry,  252. 

Hercules,  426,  441. 

Herminones,  24. 

Hermunduri,  29. 

Heroic  Legend,  5.  10,  20,  278,  473. 
Heruli,  83. 
Hessians,  19. 

High-Seat,  106  f.,  428. 
Hilde,  216. 

Hildebrand  Lay,  9,  87. 

Hilleviones,  24. 

Hludana,  438. 

Holmgang,  55,  183. 

Honey,  43  f.,  175,  190,  455. 

Horse,  40  f.,  167,  192,  215,  229,  264. 
309,  316,  323,  457  f.,  468. 

Hospitality,  161  ff.,  212,  473. 
Hostages,  130, 137. 
House,  92  ff.,  313. 
House-Spirit,  369. 
Hrotsvith,  133. 
Humor,  2. 
Hunting,  124  f . 


Hag,  373  f . 

Hail,  405. 

Hair,  59  ff.,  183,  281. 

Hall,  96,  103  ff.,  481. 

Hammer,  166,  254. 

Hanging,  239  f . 

Healing,  224,  423. 

•*  Heathenship,"  384,  400. 
Heimdall,  62,  429. 
Hel,  142,  305,  326,  353. 
Helgi  and  Sigrun,  148  ff.,  361. 
Helgoland,  438  f. 


I 


Iceland,  187  f.,  192,  203,  296,  298. 
322,341,447.  ' 

Ideals,  473. 

Images,  427,  444  f.,  447,  455. 

Immortality,  335,  343,  481. 

Imports,  213. 

Incantation,  see  Charm. 

Indigenous  Races,  31,  286. 

Individualism,  344. 

Ing,  25,  216,  434. 

IngaBvones,  24  f.,  27  ff.,  217,  434. 
442.  .        »        , 

Inheritance,  131  f. 
Ireland,  219. 
Irminsul,  447. 
Iron,  213,  391. 


to  influence  h,m    knd  thf  i«l  ^  T^'  T^°  ^""^  P'^^^^  ^f  clawical  models 

upon  which  al  G'rimm  ^Lf        f?r  T-^^-   ""'^'"''^  ^^  '^^  blood-brotherhood. 


488  INDEX 


Iron  Age,  34,  209,  308. 
IstsBvones,  24,  437. 

Jarl,  62,  278. 

Jester,  107. 

Jutes,  20,  25,  29, 186. 

Kennings,  221,  246,  275,  315,  335  f., 

475. 
Kin,  144  ff.,  170  f.,  173,  351. 
King,  99,  258,  270  ff.,  292,  299,  462. 
"Knee,"  144. 

Lamissio,  191. 

Land,  51  f.,  223  f. 

Language,  2. 

Law,  168,  296,  300,  387  f. 

Leaders,  257,  262. 

Leek,  68. 

Libation,  454. 

Lightning,  97. 

LimeSy  15. 

Linen,  78,  206. 

Literature,  4  f.,  8  f.,  482. 

Lohengrin,  49, 190. 

Lokasenna,  76,  97.  j 

Loki,  76, 174,  418. 

Lombards,  19,  26,  60,  191, 193,  271, 

386. 
Lots,  295,  385,  424,  451,  465. 
Love,  65, 147  f.,  153. 
Loyalty,  261,  264,  475. 

Magic,  140,  391  f.,  404,  469. 
Marcomanni,  94,  271. 
Mark,  see  Boundary. 
Marks,  128. 

Marriage,  151  ff.,  159  f.,  287. 
Marsi,  77. 
Masses,  360. 

Maternal  Inheritance,  132. 
Mead,  44,  72. 
Medway,  72. 
Melancholy,  36,  330. 
Metals,  86  ff . 
Michael,  St.,  362  f. 
Minstrel,  52, 112. 
Monarchy,  271  f.,  291. 
Money,  166,  223. 
Monotheism,  417. 


Moon,  33,  410,  412. 
Morning-Gift,  153. 
Music,  259,  3&4. 
Mutilation,  171,  287,  298. 
Myth,  26,  48  f.,  62,  159,  195,  216, 
325,  337  f.,  346,  482. 

Names,  23,  00, 193  ff.,  380,  385,  396, 

419,  421,  427,  429,  434. 
Nature,  36,  366  ff.,  399  f.,  475  f. 
Necromancy,  348,  350  f . 
Nehalennia,  436  f . 
Nerthus.  42,  132,  431. 
Nialssaga,  97. 
Night,  34,  413. 
Nightmare,  364,  383. 
Niorthr,  431. 
Nobles,  277  f . 
Nomad,  39  ff.,  67. 
Norns,  142. 
North,  417. 

Oak,  38,  387  f.,  427. 
Oath,  301. 
Obscenity,  474. 
Odin,  see  Woden. 
Offering,  see  Sacrifice. 
Ordeal,  183  f.,  301  f. 
Ornaments,  84  ff.,  97,  428. 
Outlaw,  298,  300. 

Ownership  of  land,  60  f .,  128, 223  f ., 
279. 

Painted  Houses,  97, 106. 

Parricide,  172. 

Pastures,  40. 

Patron  Saint,  361  f . 

Paved  Roads,  98. 

Peace,  431,  449. 

Perspective,  10, 125  f. 

Petersen,  419. 

Philosophy,  477,  478. 

Phoenicians,  12. 

Poetry,  2,  5,  8,  36,  101,  112  f.,  119., 

475,  482. 
Poisons,  68,  424. 
Polygamy,  136. 
Prayer,  450. 

Priests,  273,  277,  294,  448  ff. 
Prime  of  Life,  201. 


INDEX 


489 


Professions,  224  f . 
Property,  128. 
Prose,  3,  99. 
Prostration,  441,  451  f. 
Punishments,  186  f.,  239,  298,  479. 
Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  12,  67,  72. 

Quadi,  94. 

Queen,  117,  276  f.    ' 

Rain,  392. 
Red  Hair,  64. 

Relationship,  Degrees  of,  144  f. 
Religion,  see  Cult,  336  ff.,  477  f. 
Rhyme,  3,  113. 
Rings,  88  f.,  318,  445. 
Rock  Pictures,  48. 
Rome,  7  ff.,  15. 

Ruedeger,  Episode  of,  176,  267. 
Rugen,  453f.,458. 
Runes,  134,  140,  206,  215,  249,  376, 
405,  421,  468. 

Sacrifice,  321,  452  ff.,  455  f.,  464  f. 
Salic  Law,  128,  130  f.,  281,  296,  300. 
Salt,  33,  69,  213,  392. 
Saxnot  (Saxne'at),  244, 429. 
Saxons,  19,  25  f.,  28,  (i8,  219,  244, 

258,  330,  355,  461. 
Saxon  Shore,  26. 
Sce'af,  48  f.,  216. 
Scepticism,  8,  340  f. 
Scyld,  48  f.,  190,  323  f. 
Sea,  36,  221  f.,  396. 
Seafaring,  216  ff.,  422. 
Seasons,  414,  476. 
Semnones,  429,  441,  460. 
Sentiment,  65,  153,  169,  345,  320. 
Shields,  251  f . 

Ship,  7,  217,  222,  325,  368,  432,  448, 

463. 
Ship-Burial,  217,  322,  326. 
Sibyl,  139  f.,  350,  371,  450. 
Siegfried,  19, 125,  147,  303. 
Sigambri,  232. 
Skull  as  Cup,  120. 
Sky-Worship,  410. 

Slave,  62,  213,  283  ff.,  428. 
Smith,  62,  207  f. 
Soap,  69. 


Soissons,  Vase  of,  290. 
Songs,  6,  25,  112  f.,  269,  451. 
Sources,  5. 
Spinning,  82  f . 

Spirit,  326  ff.,  479,  481  f. 
Spiritualism,  348. 
Stars,  413. 
Stature,  57. 
Stone  Age,  34,  48,  308. 
Stone  Buildings,  91,  95. 
Strand-Ward,  103,  220. 
Stranger,  288. 
Suevi,  29,  464. 
Suicide,  203,  232,  306. 
Sun- Worship,  399,  410. 
Swamp,  35  f . 
Swan-Maidens,  395. 
Swine,  40. 
Sword,  210,  243  ff. 
Sword-Dance,  198,  429. 

Tactics,  242,  256,  258,  260,  421,  446. 

Tanfana,  437,  443. 

Tapestries,  107  f. 

Taxes,  289. 

Temper,  37  f.,  58,  74, 119,  474. 

Temples,  440  ff. 

Teutons,  13. 

Thor,  55,  62,  68,  166  f.,  314,  323, 

342,  419,  425  ff.,  447,  464,  474. 
Thunder,  426, 
Thuringians,  19,  29. 
Tin,  11. 

Tius,  420f.,428ff. 
Tomb,  107,  133,  313,  354. 
Trade,  see  Commerce. 
Traders,  213. 
Treasure,  100,  107,  317. 
Trees,  37  ff.,  240  f.,  293,  382  ff., 

386  ff.,  426,  440,  442. 
Trial  by  Battle,  143,  182,  184,  301. 
Type  of  German,  17  f. 

Underground  Houses,  92  f.,  167. 
Underworld,  36  f.,  480. 
Upsala,  Temple  at,  425,  441,  445, 
447. 

Valhalla,  149,  305,  480  f . 
Valkyria,  141,  148,  361,  372. 


490 


INDEX 


Vandals,  19. 

Varus,  Defeat  of,  286,  460. 

Vehmgerichte,  240,  296. 

Veleda,  139  f.,  384. 

Vigils,  352. 

Viking,  219,  305,  354,  425,  463. 

Virtues,  169  f.,  473  ff. 

Wake,  357  f . 

Wandering,  5, 11,  26. 

Warrior,  52,  81,  129,  226  ff.,  242  ff., 

306. 
Water-Hell,  37,  479. 
Water-Spirits,  394  f. 
Water-Worship,  389  f.,  397,  399  f. 
Wayland,  53,  111,  120  f.,  208. 
Weapons,  196,  209,  227  f.,  242  ff., 

318  f.,  379,  422. 
Weaving,  82  f.,  108,  206. 
Wedding,  145  ff.,  151  ff.,  156  ff.,  435. 
Week,  Days  of,  418  f . 


Wells,  78,  389  ff . 

Welsh,  23,  279,  283. 

Werewolf,  364. 

Wergild,  146,  174,  178  f.,  197,  211, 

280,  284,  299. 
Widow,  160. 
Wife,  45,  117,  134, 146  f.,  154, 170, 

186,  319  f.,  400. 
Wind,  367,  377,  398,  404. 
Wine,  72  f.,  103,  212. 
Winter,  36,  415,  475. 
Witchcraft,  144,  373,  376  f.,  468. 
Woden,  48,  74,  240,  256,  314,  342, 

350,  356,  377,  384, 419  ff.,  447, 454. 
Woman,  66,  117,  130  ff.,  137,  300, 

370. 
Wooden  Houses,  92. 
Wool,  33,  79. 
Wyrd,  111,  236,  362,  371  f . 

Yggdrasill,  387. 


/^ 


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